"Perfect Pairings" - Project Runway All Stars - No Spoilers

Designers love dress-up, and the designers of Project Runway All Stars were no exception. Everyone put on their best and joined each other in pairs at an exclusive restaurant named "Daniel". Each pairing seated at a table for dinner would become partners for this challenge and would base their designs on either the food or the wine of their dinner. This was a double-elimination challenge - the weakest team would both be eliminated at the end of this one-day challenge. What would the winning team get? They would return to "Daniel" for a full five-course dinner experience. 

Each person chose a friend to share their dinner with, and
that person became their partner for this team challenge. Here,
in the foreground, we have Edmond and Helen, and in the
background, Anthony and Kimberly. 

Each team had a different entree with a paired wine. One of the team chose the wine as their inspiration, and the other based their design on the entree - the color, the patterns, or the textures played into their design choices. After their stunning (but rather minimal) dinner they sketched and then returned home for a good night's sleep before beginning their one-day challenge. 

The pairings were as follows: 

Merline and Candice: white asparagus and 2011 Gruner Veltliner

Anthony and Kimberly: lamb chop and Syrah

Melissa and Ari: citrus cured hamachi and Chablis

Ken and Fabio: guinea hen duo and Pinot Noir

Char and Stanley: lobster and rosé of Pinot Noir

Joshua and Amanda: black sea bass and 2013 chardonnay

Helen and Edmond: minted pea soup and Chenin Blanc

Communication was going to be the key to success in this runway show and if the two designers in each pair didn't communicate well with each other and design complements to each other's designs, they would both be sent home. It's one added pressure to an already pressure-filled challenge. After a trip to Mood with a $400 budget per pair, the designers returned to the workroom with ten hours to work before shutting down for the night. 

In the workshop, some pairs worked well (Anthony and Kimberly) and others seemed to be working in silence and separate bubbles (Merline and Candace). When Anne Fulenwider comes in for her critique, she mentions famous pairings in the design world - nothing like adding pressure to the situation. 

Drama ensued throughout the critique and then again sprang up in the model fitting when Merline didn't even have anything for her model to put on and Melissa decided to scrap her design completely make a dress instead. The funniest comment was Anthony's description of Helen and Edmond's designs as "...a tampon and blood, like right before they come together". OK - that caught my ear - LOL. 

The next day after a quick visit to makeup and hair, the models were dressed and ready for the runway. There were some real disasters here, but some great pairings as well. The guest judge was Whoopi Goldberg. After the Runway show, four teams were left standing - two in the top and two in the bottom. Tomorrow I'll take a look at the winners and losers and discuss who went home this week. Remember, it's a double elimination, so two winners and two losers. One way to cut those numbers down! 

Have a great Friday. I got some new swimming toys in my mail delivery yesterday - a swim band to help me with my earphones, a new kind of paddle that will exercise different muscles in my arms, and a small set of fins for agility. They're packed and ready to come play with me, even though I doubt I'll use all of them all of the time. Still - toys are wonderful. Spoilers tomorrow .... yippee!