Zac Posen and Red Carpet Wear

Zac Posen, one of the regular judges on the regular Project Runway, invited the All Star designers to tour his workshop. I found it interesting that he called the workshop his atelier, a term that I'm more familiar with among artists than fashion designers. His assignment:  Create a red carpet look featuring the designer's "unique" technique using fabric that he provided. Zac is also a judge for this one-day challenge. In a curve, Alyssa said that the usual mentor, Anne, was unavailable this week, so the designers were instructed to use the button bag to constructively self-critique each other's designs in progress. Ouch and meow - here's where the claws will come out and the shade thrown will have a wide imprint. 

The fabrics that were offered to the designers were beautiful. I don't
think there was any black available, so everyone went with some
color. Hallelujah! 

Zac had a long table of bolts of fabric to tempt the designers for this week's challenge. His fabrics were out of the ordinary - Irish linen, Italian lace and French satin, among others. The colors were deep and bold, ad the designers had to choose their fabrics before designing their gowns - a bit backwards for the normal design process. The prize for the winner? The winner would be a wardrobe designer for a leading lady of a Lifetime original movie. Great prize! 

Personal "unique" techiques varied - Joshua wanted to use pintucks, Ken planned to sculpt, and Fabio wanted to use his mastery of pleating. I was looking forward to this Runway because I've used fabric manipulation techniques in my own works and loved playing with toys like the pintucking feet for my sewing machine. Pleats, darts, folds, pinches, tucks and shirring can make designs unique and distinctive. 

When the models came in for their fitting, everyone had something ready except Edmond and Joshua. I was a bit worried about Joshua. Although his fabric was stunning and the initial design looked great, pintucking takes a LOT of time and it's only a one-day challenge. 

The standard judges of Georgina Chapman and Isaac Mizrahi were joined by Zac Posen and actress Rosie Perez. Seven designer gowns walked the Runway. Who won, who was safe and who was sent home? I'll have photos and details for you in tomorrow's post. 

Have a wonderful Friday. I'm really looking forward to pulling this week closer to the end. I'm also going to start reminding my US readers that Daylight Saving Time comes back EARLY Sunday morning. We're losing an hour of sleep, people!