Project Runway All Stars Recap: Season 6, Episode 6: Thrown for a Loop by Betty Boop

photos courtesy of mylifetime.com.

This week, Betty Boop was the special guest. The designers were challenged by her to create a youthful, fashion-foward look that she’d love to wear. (The animators did an especially lovely job with her shadow on the catwalk.)

The designers were given $200 to shop at Mood for supplies and everyone came back with such a mixed bag of materials. Neoprene, mesh, silk organza (cue Anthony) and a few random prints.

Joshua has a sequined number and he created a Betty Boop silhouette applique for his top. I thought he would either go home for this or be the winner. He was the only one embracing the feeling, attitude and energy of Betty Boop with his design.

Helen went with a striped fabric that almost looked like denim. She doubted herself and questioned the time it would take to miter her stripe corners. Nevertheless, she persisted.

Then there was this monstrosity in the making. I can see why Edmond was drawn to this print on the bolt. But once he started draping it on the form, it looked…well…like a Georgia O’Keefe painting. And by that, I mean it looked like a woman’s lady parts.

Quickly enough (after a few hours), he decided to reverse the print and use the white side as the main fabric. Of course when it came down to his critique, Ann mentioned how much she liked the print underneath and that he was playing it safe. So, he THIRD guessed himself and ended up reversing it AGAIN.

Merlene struggled, too. She said, “I don’t think of myself as a sexy girl. I’m just Merlene…very quirky, very fun. So when I design garments, I don’t think like that.” Welp, she better start thinking this way because if I had a nickel for every time one of the judges talked about sex appeal, I’d be living large.

She opted to design a dress that covered up most of the model, including a bunch of fabric plumage on the front.

Char’s neoprene number wasn’t working for her. The fabric weight was just too heavy for her design. She wanted volume but this wasn’t the way she was going to get it. Ken absolutely hated her work, saying it looked like a maternity dress and like a “hot a$$ mess.”

So many designers were not ready and sewed up til the very last minute. Merlene’s model was getting her hair done WHILE Merlene finished sewing the dress ON HER BODY.

Let’s get to the final looks:

Joshua McKinley

I think Joshua will actually get a critique this week! He stepped it up and really thought about the client.

Edmond Newton

The problem here is all the straps competing with each other.

Char Glover

She was right. The fabric was all wrong.

Kimberly Goldson

She wanted her model to hang out with Taylor Swift. Boom…done! I liked the jacket and the overall look was cool.

Helen Castillo

This was pretty cool. The judges liked it but didn’t feel it was feminine enough. I totally disagree. I thought this was her best work so far.

Stanley Hudson

Yawn. The collar was kinda neat, but he glued all those beads at the last second.

Ken Lawrence

For someone who was criticizing Char for making a maternity dress, this was a “pot calling kettle black” moment for me.

Fabio Costa

This Rorshach-esque print turned out pretty neat, but I thought this was rather simple. It did showcase his sewing chops though.

Merlene Labissiere

Oh Merlene. I feel like the fabric bolt was thrown onto the dress form and pinned in a random fashion, rather than having a thought from the start and an actual design.

Anthony Williams

Like Joshua suggested, it looked like a scrunched up tissue was thrown onto the Swiss Dot garment and stitched on. But it wasn’t the worst of the lot.

Ken, Fabio, Kimberly and Anthony were safe.

Joshua, Helen and Stanley were in the top.

Edmond, Char and Merlene were in the bottom.

I liked Josh, Helen and Kimberly, in that order.

In the end, Char goes home. She had a great speech in the end, saying “The world will always give you no’s and you have to make them a yes.”

And Joshua wins! Here’s Betty wearing his design:

I think the judges got it right this week with the winner. However, I think Merlene should have gone home. How many more weeks will we have left of this girl?