Project Runway All Stars: Melted Gelato - Here's The Rankings Rankings and Commentary by RTVC Staff Writer Michael Pascua
January 27, 2012
Michael Current Ranking: 1 Previous Ranking: 1
I never really understood the appeal of Michael Costello. He makes good clothes, but depends a lot on his strong draping skills and the fact that most of the time his models don't have much in the breast area so he could create lots of plunging fronts. Sometimes I question how Michael could dress for the real woman. This week his outfit still had the plunging neckline and even with that, Miranda Kerr picked the dress. The judges warned her that she would have to strategically tape things. Imagine at this "industry party" that something went wrong and something slipped out. Now who would want a Michael Costello original?
The best part of the episode was watching Michael squeal in excitement over Diane Von Furstenberg. It reminds me that he still is awestruck. It was even better at the end when she was like "Call Me" and Michael near died.
Mondo Current Ranking: 2 Previous Ranking: 5
Mondo may have made something that was very "Mondo" in experimental nature, but it was pretty unoriginal. It's a caftan with a nicely cut revealing back. He was ironically criticized for making a dress that covered too much (except for the back) during the finale of his season. Of all the clothes though, his screamed "Cantaloupe" the easiest.
While he was at Mini Mood, Mondo complained that he didn't have enough fabric and then created a full length dress that had the right colors, having enough time to cut the back out and not start with the back having to be cut out because of fabric constraints. I think the contestants need the challenge back in Season Three where they have to use every scrap of fabric they purchased just to teach them that they don't need to over-buy fabric.
Jerrell Current Ranking: 3 Previous Ranking: 7
Jerell continues to make the same handkerchief dress from week one. His clothes continue to be short in the front and then always longer in the back, as if this phase never will go away. Again, like the handkerchief dress, I liked the styling of the top and appreciated that he brought that into the hair and makeup. My problem with Jerell is that sassy commentary and a good selection of prints can only bring you so far.
Kenley Current Ranking: 4 Previous Ranking: 2
Kenley didn't reinvent the wheel, all she did was gave the same old classic dress with a print that was daring. She didn't even have enough time to defend herself to Joanna, because the show felt like she went to everyone except Kenley and gave commentary. I really hope that the judges soon call her out on making the same circle skirt over and over again. It may be Kenley's signature, but Project Runway was created to push designers further and Kenley is resisting when she makes a basic dress with a collar.
Mila Current Ranking: 5 Previous Ranking: 10
Mila's dresses are still boring, even after adding color to it. I didn't understand the appeal. She made a mod-esque dress that instead of being black and white was red and white. It's still kind of color blocked like Mila always does. To make it worse, she managed to get a top scoring dress when even I could see that she plopped a quick beige slip on her model so that there wouldn't be any vulgar moments. When the model turned around, you could see this blaring beige box where the white was too sheer.
Anthony called Mila's dress a bad Christmas ornament. I think the color scheme was a bit candy cane with the almost diagonal nature of the dress, but a bit of several sheer candy cane layers. The problem was that the inspiration was cherries and I got winter or even Valentine's Day instead.
Austin Current Ranking: 6 Previous Ranking: 6
Austin turned to the one thing he despises the most: the hot glue gun. After burning his dress during week one, I was convinced that Austin learned his lesson, but with the time constraints being what they were, Austin needed the "liquid thread." Austin probably had the easiest time creating something based off of vanilla but I didn't understand what Madagascar had to do with anything. There was no color change, it didn't look like there were specks of some sort of flavoring, and I didn't see animated DreamWorks characters dancing around. The only reference was how Austin described his model's makeup.
Rami Current Ranking: 7 Previous Ranking: 3
I'm probably in the minority because I found Rami's dress to be garish and tacky. He didn't really have much of a choice when he got Kiwi, but if Mondo was so literal with his color choices, I don't see why Rami couldn't have incorporated a cute faux-fur or a touch of brown somewhere. My biggest problem was the way the dress top had so many layers of different fabrics. Unlike April where the two fabrics complimented each other to create a rich violet, Rami's green choices felt like they were arguing with each other.
Anthony Current Ranking: 8 Previous Ranking: 4
Anthony's inspiration of melting ice cream would have worked if he had more time or even length on his dress. He fell back on his week one challenge as well with his geometric top that was well crafted. The side panels he created were questionable, but the biggest problem for me was the transition between the top and the bottom: there was none. I understand that the designers had six hours and a very limited Mini Mood, but there was probably a way to either accessorize it better or find a green color in the transitioning gradient to get lighter.
I thought that the concept of "Green Tea" could have given so many more ideas past the melting ice cream. Green Tea has Asian undertones, is known for being caffeinated, and was once a leaf. Three ideas that Anthony didn't think of.
Kara Current Ranking: 9 Previous Ranking: 9
I don't understand how Kara has survived; it may possibly be because Elisa, Sweet P, and Gordana make "Sweet" and "Pretty" dresses similar to Kara, but now that they are all eliminated, she's the only one that's representing that sweet look. Michael and Rami love draping, Anthony, Mondo, and Jerell love a bit of flair to their clothing whether it be shape or color. Mila and Kenley both are trying to make retro/current inspired clothes. Austin is in his own world of couture. Leaving Kara to make dresses that are "sweet."
I hated Kara's dress because it was really a good pregnancy dress. Did you see how many inches the model gained around her mid-section? That's unacceptable. She looked like either she ate a fattening cupcake and wiped it on her dress. I think the biggest solution would have been to figure out how to correctly distance the layers to either start it shorter up top and longer on the bottom, or picking fabrics that didn't bunch as much when they were on top of each other, maybe more thin silks.
April Current Ranking: Eliminated
Gordana Current Ranking: Eliminated
Sweet P Current Ranking: Eliminated
Elisa Current Ranking: Eliminated
Michael Pascua spends most of his live watching reality TV, reading for grad school, and dreaming of becoming a Filipino pop star. Find his everyday rants and raves on www.MichaelSPascua.com or follow his twitter @MichaelPascua.
You can email Michael at m15@michaelspascua.com.
***
Send Press Releases, Tips, News, Gossip:Click Here
All articles are the intellectual property of and copyrighted by the individual authors.
By submitting an article to Reality TV Calendar you are granting Reality TV Calendar
permission to display the article in perpetuity.
