PR All-St★rs 6 Ep 8: Color Me Isaac

This week the designers head to the Jewish Museum and I immediately think: Kabbalah Kouture. Knish Kouture. Something.

I am, as usual, wrong, because at the museum they arrive at an exhibit called “Isaac Mizrahi: An Unruly History” and find Alyssa Milano, in bold Mizrahi color no less, waiting. She tells the designtestants they are there to celebrate a cultural icon, a performer, an artist, and entrepreneur, and quicker than you can say ‘Hi kids,’ out pops Isaac Mizrahi himself.

Alyssa reminds them that Isaac is known for his fabulous use of color and then Isaac reveals this week’s challenge: he has hand-selected colors for each designtestant to use in creating a party dress. Alyssa then adds that each designer must also choose a complementary color to go with their primary color and there will be a prize…but Isaac won’t reveal it until after the runway.

The designtestants take a tour of the exhibit, and the fabulous clothes and sketches a la Mizrahi, and get a chance to talk with him before heading off to Mood.

Let the games begin …

THE SAFES

FABIO He was given green, and is not happy, because he’s from Brazil and flag is green and no one designs with green unless they’re going to carnival. He goes for a mint green puff dress with a bold strip at the hem. It’s … nice.

JOSH He was going to Josh this thing up in some sort facockta looking mess with tinsel and sparkles and Anne warned him against it. This week he listened and created a much more understated dress. Not my favorite, it was kind of baggy and saggy, but at least it didn’t have everything in one look, this time.

TOPS AND BOTTOMS

HELEN

She was given purple and went eggplant; eggplant is an awful color, but then she paired it with that electric boogaloo blue that I hate; actually, it’s less electric boogaloo blue and more Merline blue, which should have been a sign.

When Anne Fulenwider sees Helen’s fabrics and designs, she urges her to be ‘overwhelming’ which Helen takes to mean, make pants, but, you know, one-legged pants, with a sash thing.

WHAT SHE SAID

The eggplant still reads purple, and the complimentary color pops.

WHAT I SAID

Eggplant is an awful color… I’ll say it again … and that blue hurts my eyes and seeing that long pant leg and then that short pant leg under the sash, hurt my head.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ loves the unexpected playfulness of the look, but thinks the eggplant is depressing. Isaac is surprised by the dark eggplant, but says Helen has a dark side, and he loves the blue; he said it gave him a disco vibe but wondered, “Why one leg?” Alyssa likes the risk taken but loathes the color choices. Guest judge, fashion model and icon Carmen Dell’Orefice loves the idea of the cut-off pant leg; I think she’s senile or just batty.

ANTHONY

Anthony’s assigned color was yellow—Isaac thinks only a good designer can pull off yellow—and decides to pair it with a pale lavender; it seems strange because the yellow is so mustard and the lavender so dull.

Anne kind of likes it, and calls it elegant, but she reminds him that it’s a party dress not a red-carpet look. That stuns Anthony for a hot minute, and then he shrugs it off and works that fabric into a frenzy.

WHAT HE SAID

To be absolutely honest, it looks better than I thought it would.

WHAT I SAID

Mustard? No. Pale lavender? No. A slit so high it seemed to rest under the model’s chin? No.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Isaac loves the idea of a long one-shouldered dress but thought the lavender so light that it read gray; he also pointed out that the seams were wonky. Carmen Dell’Orefice said she liked it because it would make going to the bathroom easier and if you peed on it, no one would notice. Okay, I said that last bit., but Carmen did say she hated the acid yellow. Alyssa hated that the dress was a tattoo short and you could see toes. The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ called it tortured; she said the cutout was too small, and the slit too high.

KEN

He got red, and Isaac hoped he would use a red he hadn’t tried before. He then decides that he rarely shows any detail in his work, so he’s going to create a corset look filled with detail.

Anne encourages him to show off all he can, but then ken is stumped; he’s tired; he has a date with a chicken that comes before fashion; he doesn’t want to do anything. And Anthony isn’t having it, telling Ken, “Fix the f**ling dress.”

But Ken is still thinking of the chicken and waits until the day of the runway to skip all the details and create what he dubbed a “basic bitch dress.” At the last minute, he creates a drape and adds a strip of light pink, as a complimentary color, along the hem.

WHAT HE SAID

It moves so pretty on the runway.

WHAT I SAID

Coming at you it’s very pretty, but walking away, the draped fabric seems to end rather abruptly.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ calls it perfection, and fun from the front; she loved the soft drape and the effortlessness to the look but hated the way it looked in the back. Isaac loved the bright happy red but wished the pink had been a bolder shade; he called it fresh and wonderful. Carmen Dell’Orefice really hated seeing the pink zipper and Alyssa said it was the kind of dress a woman who wore a power suit would wear: power party? She also noted that Ken, the former bad Boy of the PR, could really take a critique and then bring it to the runway.

EDMOND

Isaac said he just thought orange when he thought Edmond; I kind of agree because orange is the color of fire and fire is hit and Edmond has those guns and … where was I?

Orange. And he was thinking structure, but then bought a stain, and so he thought slinky and shiny and negligee-ish and, well, as hot as he is the creative flame might be dimming. He did pick a beautiful raspberry color as a compliment, which Anne liked, though she warned him that the short dress he envisioned needed to be perfect because Isaac has a lot to say about bad lengths in dresses.

And that causes Edmond to leave it as a gown and that might not be good.

WHAT HE SAID

I love the color …[it’s] moving like liquid.

WHAT I SAID

It’s really nothing, and the little back bow in the complimentary color seems last minute, even though it wasn’t.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ loves the color combination, but calls it a throwaway dress and says something…fashion?... is missing. Isaac agrees there is nothing there, though he loved the back; he called it a Pajama Party Dress. Carmen Dell’Orefice agreed that it was just a sexy nightgown, while Alyssa loved it, and loved the use of the raspberry bow.

STANLEY 

Pink makes Isaac think of Audrey Hepburn and then of Stanley, who creates more sort of elegant, simple chic old school fashion, so Stanley gets the pink. And then he finds a teal to pair it with and wants to create a simple top, with a ball gown skirt, worn over a kind of bustle that would give his thin model the hint of a hip.

Anne loves the idea of the undergarment creating shape but warns Stanley that the pink needs to be the dominant color. And it is, even after he skips the big skirt in favor of a far slimmer version.

WHAT HE SAID

She looks very elegant [and] rich.

WHAT I SAID

I kind of miss the vision of the big skirt because this thinner version seems stiff. Still, it is stunning, partly because of the colors.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Isaac calls it “madly interesting”—Note To Self: try using the word ‘madly’ more in conversation—and loves the “divine” color—Follow Up Note: toss in a divine every now and then, too.  He also loves the hip-creating undergarment because it creates different shades of pink when the fabric moved. Carmen Dell’Orefice loves it, and calls it “old couture,” but says she doesn’t think it needed the hip-making attachment. Alyssa loved the hip-thing because it created great shapes in the dress, while The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ called the colors amazing, the silhouette interesting, the proportions great, but the top kind of papery.

MERLINE

When Isaac thought blue, he thought of glass windows in skyscrapers reflecting the sky and since Merline always dubs her style ‘architectural,’ he gave her the blue. I guess he’d forgotten how many times she’d done blue before …

And architecture. She talks about trying something new: folding the fabrics. But is it new, or is she just folding a different fabric this week? And she opts to pair the blue with yellow, which is an odd combination—Josh thought of school colors and called the look “cheerleader couture.” He was kind of right, those were my high school colors.

When Anne sees it, she asks if it is really different, or just a version of the dress from last week in a different color. Merline says:

“I’ve never seen this from me, so I don’t quite get what Anne is saying.”

Merline doesn’t see that all she does is pin and fold fabrics; that all she does is create a backwards mullet hem; that she is past due for a bus ticket home. Plus, she is way too concerned with what color shoes to pair with a dress she hasn’t even finished yet.

WHAT SHE SAID

My stuff looks totally different from everyone else.

WHAT I SAID

It looks like a bunch of napkins had gone through the dryer and there was an immense amount to static cling holding them all together.

WHAT THE JUDGES SAID

Alyssa thought it looked forced, like someone would force a kidnapping victim into the trunk of a car, or force Star Jones into a tight-fitting gown, or force Beyoncé to sing live. She urged Merline to try origami … at home, alter. Isaac liked the blue, thought the yellow a mistake, and said the look didn’t come across …as what? Fashion? Wearable? Real? Carmen Dell’Orefice said Merline didn’t have a sensual tie to fabrics though she did like the back and The Beautiful Georgina Chapman™ told Merline she needed to find fabrics that work wither idea of folds. Burlap anyone?

Ken, last minute chicken eating nap taking Ken, is safe, and so it comes down to Helen one-legged depression, and Stanley’s Audrey Hepburn old school chic fest. But, before Isaac announces the winner, he says they will be given the chance to create capsule collection with Isaac Mizrahi for his collection at Lord + Taylor.

That was huge, and, of course, it went to Stanley. I think he and Isaac could do great things together, especially if they allow me to sit in and watch. I mean, it would be divine to be that madly inspired.

As for the outs? Edmond’s slip dress is safe, and it comes down to Anthony’s tortured Tweety bird mess and Merline’s Origami Oh My God Mess.

Clearly, it’s Merline. It should have been Merline weeks ago.

Bye.

I adore Isaac Mizrahi; I adore that when Josh asked him how you handle a critique, because Clearly Josh can’t handle the critique, Isaac said:

“Sometimes you think you’ve done the worst work of your life and then someone says, ‘Wow, that is so good.’ Other times you think you’ve done this amazing thing and people go, ‘Yeah that’s, no.’ Trust that all of that is coming from the right place.”

I’m mad for Mizrahi.

I was also mad for the show having Merline be the timekeeper this week. Every single time she shouted how much time was left I laughed because she was the one always running out of time.

And when Anthony and ken were dishing on Merline’s use of shapes and Ken said:

“She can make a shape though.”

And, naturally, Anthony once again wins Line of the Night:

“Anthony just messed up the tip of the iron, however, I encourage everyone to immediately get over it,”

Snap.

I also loved Helen stumbling over her words on the runway, saying:

If there’s anyone to admire as an American designer, it’s Isaac—”

And she realizes Georgina is there and quickly adds:

“Among others.”

Oh Helen, too bad you didn’t keep that extra pant fabric to shove down your throat.

And then how fabulous is Carmen Dell’Orefice? I mean, fifty years ago she was something and today she is all that and a bag of chips.

As for The Tents: Ken, Anthony, Stanley, for sure; Fabio, still high. Helen and Edmond … hope they get tickets. Josh? Maybe he can watch from his hotel room?

What did YOU think?