“Project Runway All Stars” Season 5
Episode 12 recap: “Prince of Prints”
Special guest Nina Garcia, “Project Runway” judge, tasked the final four designers to create an original print for a print-on-print look, a challenge perfectly suited to designer Dom Streater, dubbed “The Print Goddess” by fellow contestant Ken Laurence.
Hawaii designer Kini Zamora designed a black-and-white leaf pattern for his updated tuxedo.
As the designers worked, they were visited by the winners of the four previous seasons of “Project Runway All Stars.” Season 2 winner Anthony Ryan Auld advised Zamora to “add a little bit more sex” to his designs.
Mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi looked at Zamora’s massive ruffled sleeves on his dress form and warned him to make his look interesting but not gimmicky.
Polarizing designer Sam Donovan criticized Zamora’s print as “the kind of print you make your first year in design school.”
“I’ve seen that look before and it’s not like I’ve seen it before and it was fabulous. I’ve seen it before on reruns,” he said.
The judges disagreed with Donovan as all four praised Zamora’s menswear-inspired look. The main criticism of Zamora came from judges Georgina Chapman and Isaac Mizrahi, who reiterated their concerns about his taste level.
Guest judge Garcia defended the local designer: “Kini comes out here and gives you something that is so crazy, off the charts, and it’s so precise in its tailoring, but it is very creative.”
Streater emerged the winner for her red, pink and white geometric print that she crafted into a wrap dress and covered with a white faux leather coat, hand painted with black stripes. The judges loved the juxtaposition of the structured print and with the softness of the hand work.
Zamora’s score qualified him for next week’s finale. Laurence created a subdued monochromatic brush print dress with an ’80s-inspired silhouette while Donovan designed a pixelated turquoise floral print that he combined with neoprene mesh to create a coat that he layered over a slouchy black-and-white jumpsuit.
The looks landed the designers in the bottom two and the indecisive judges had them participate in a final challenge: reconstructing the winning and losing looks from a previous challenge this season into a new look — in just one hour.
The remade designs were both praised, but Laurence received the last finale spot and Donovan was sent home.
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The season finale of Project Runway All Stars” airs at 7 p.m. Thursday on Lifetime.
