As a wise frog once said, it isn’t easy being green.
This week on PR All Stars, our team of superhero designers and Laura Kathleen were tasked with creating a “green” dress for the runway, using a special fabric which uses “almost no water or power” to create their product. I’ve listened and Googled, and I still can’t tell if the name of the company is “Air Dye Fabrics” or “Erudite Fabrics,” so we’re going with the second one, it’s more fun. ANH is going to wear the winning look on an actual runway, and the designers are thrilled. The guest judge this week is Diane von Furstenberg, she of the lovely wrap dress fame.
The designers are also tasked with re-using old notions, trimmings and assorted frou-frou from previous challenges, making this as “green” as possible for a television show about fashion.
Emilio and Ivy really struggle. Both gowns look gorgeous in the sketch, and you can see the intention in the final result, but there’s a clear gap. Emilio ran out of time, so he left out his zipper, his hem, and the lining of the very, very, very sheer gown. Ivy spent almost all her time cutting the pattern for her draped gold number, so she was scrambling. Her fabric ended up working against her, and her dress came out lumpy, wrinkled and terribly unflattering.
Let’s take a closer look at the clothes, shall we?
Althea
Althea was kind of screwed from the get-go. I had a comforter made out of her fabric when I was eight and still believed I could be both president and a princess when I grew up. In short, it was a hideous piece of cloth. She was in the bottom three and ended up going home. Sadface. I feel like Althea never really had a chance to shine this season, which is too bad, I think she’s a great designer, and she seems like a genuinely interesting person.
Anthony Ryan
Anthony went for maximum flowiness, with a little structured detailing to add his individual mark. I’m not wild about the color (although it matches my current pajama pants exactly), but I like how the dress looked when it moved. I’m a big fan of wearing clothes that create a cloud of mysterious drama, and this dress is that. Anthony Ryan was in the top three.
Cassanova
So every time Cassanova, my imaginary best friend, comes on screen, I hear this:
Levert is a seriously underrated band. Look at those fellas, they’ve got style.
Anyway, Cassanova made this great dress, which is half Strawberry Shortcake and half lumberjack, and it works. Cassanova was safe, not in the top or bottom three.
Emilio
As we spoke of earlier, this was not E’s challenge. I imagine a different day would have yielded different results for him, but the combination of unclear vision, unruly fabric, and an over-ambitious design really worked against him. He was in the bottom three, but was safe.
Ivy
And here’s Ivy’s hot mess of a crumpled Godiva chocolate box. She was safe, but in the bottom three.
Joshua
Joshua would be the designer I would least suspect of being low-key, ever, but he’s been downright reserved this season. He’s taken some great risks, but for some reason, the judges have treated him like he’s invisible this season. He whipped up this, which I don’t love or hate. He was in the middle, with Cassanova.
Laura Kathleen
DVF is LK’s idol, so she was on her best behavior this week. She barely insulted the other designers at all, keeping her head down to whip up a (I am just as surprised by my reaction as you, readers) a kicky jumpsuit that looks like it could have been made by DVF herself. DVF told her a story during judging about being 20 and in love in Italy, and seeing all the Italian women flowing about the place in their pajama palazzo pants. Laura Kathleen was the winner, and I can’t argue, even though I’d really like to.
Uli
Uli was also in the top three. I expected a long, flowy, Miami dress from her this challenge, but instead she made an adorable cocktail length dress with all sorts of fun shit on it. Feathers, sparkles, doo-dads, whoosits and whatsits are all over this dress, and it totally works. I can see this on one of those young, hard-t0-tell-apart (because I’m old) starlets who have legs for days and a willingness to stand out from their contemporaries.
Next week, it looks like the designers are making dresses from cheap-ass Christmas decorations. That should be fun. I’ll bring the eggnog and the fruitcake, you bring the comments, we’ll make it a thing.
