Project Runway All Stars, Ep. 6: Marge-inal Efforts

December 13, 2013

For this episode, our Project Runway All Stars are challenged to create an outfit for the most famous housewife in America since June Cleaver (oh, c’mon, you remember who June Cleaver was—I am NOT that old!). Alyssa gestures to the television monitor, and Marge Simpson appears, to everyone’s delight. Marge tells them that her wardrobe philosophy is “to find a dress that looks good on you and wear it every day for the rest of your life.” If it were only that easy!

Marge asks the designers to create a special outfit for her to wear for a dinner date with her husband Homer. Her edicts are that the dress cannot be green, and that it needs to be easy for Homer to remove in his inebriated state from several glasses of wine and the six-pack of beer he will sneak. My favorite line: “Use the accessories from the ‘Whoever’s Sponsoring the Accessories Wall Now’ wall.” Alyssa tells the designers that the winning design will be animated and worn by Marge in an upcoming episode of “The Simpsons.” She sends them off to do their magic in a day; they have 30 minutes to sketch and a $200 budget.

I love seeing the designer’s depictions of Marge in their sketches. Some don’t bother, but Christopher and Elena’s drawings are eerily reminiscent of the early days, when the Simpsons were a spot on Tracy Ullman’s comedy show.

At Mood, I’m seeing a lot of purple, so I guess that’s the anti-green. When they return to Parsons, their room has been decorated with all things Marge—useful to gauge the color tones. Zanna comes to do her customary walk-through/third degree, and manages to terrify Seth Aaron to the point that he starts over again—several times. She studies Elena’s design and points out that with Marge’s yellow skin and blue hair, the black, red, and purple ensemble will make Marge look like a Rubik’s cube.  Elena chirps to the camera, “Zanna likes where I’m going.” Is it a good thing to look like a Rubik’s cube?

Why does Christopher have two dresses? I have no idea, and he doesn’t either. However, Christopher does remark on Seth Aaron’s designs, “Where in the world did that dress come from? Is that the sixth one?” I guess when you only do two outfits, you can look down on those who put together six. Seth Aaron shares that he needs to take his outfit down about 27 notches—that’s a lot of dialing down. A whole lot of second guessing is going on, but the designs are getting worse instead of better. Oh, for the wisdom and practical adages of Tim Gunn—Zanna’s advice is not very useful.

Aw, Viktor apologizes to Christopher for being so cold to him after being in the bottom last week. Kiss and make up, you two. Just another example of the maturity of the All Stars—no knuckleheads screaming at each other, nobody stomping out of the room—just a little bit of jealousy, as it should be.

On the runway, we meet this week’s judges: Anthony Ryan Auld, who looks a bit like a cartoon character himself with his bright blue shorts and Mohawk (I thought it was Puck from “Glee” for a moment); Isaac Mizrahi (thank God for some continuity—no wonder the designers are all over the place this season with this constant changing of voices and opinions); Abigail Breslin; and Stacey Bendet from Alice & Olivia.

Irina’s gown is gorgeous; it’s easy to see that she’ll win this week. Jeffrey’s gown is absolutely awful—it’s as if he has forgotten how to make women’s clothes. Irina, Korto, and Elena are in the top three; Seth Aaron, Jeffrey, and Christopher are in the bottom three. Isaac comes off with some of the best zingers this week; he tells Jeffrey that it appears he is having trouble finding his muse (amen to that). Isaac tells Seth Aaron that his garment is a “dress of fear,” and tells Christopher that his dress “doesn’t look like one that I’ve seen hundreds of times, only fifty.” Ha!

In the end, Irina wins, and Jeffrey goes home. Once again, Jeffrey is gracious, thanking everyone for the opportunity and experience, understanding that you live and die by your own craft, not anyone else’s. Are you listening, Helen?