The designers flock into the Museum of Natural History, which is full of dinosaur skeletons. It's pretty cool. Alyssa welcomes them and transitions into the theme of the evening: there's an exhibit coming on poisonous insects and arachnids, so the challenge is to do something inspired by bugs. And it's an avant-garde challenge, which means they'll be expected to do something crazy. Everyone seems excited at the news that they're allowed to be detached from reality. They're going to be sent down to the Hall of Biodiversity, which will contain ten creepy-crawlies in jars.
Elena gets to choose first, and she does not seem like she likes bugs. She chooses the lubber grasshopper. Then the rest of them are sent down there to squabble over bugs. So they all start shouting things like "I got the tiger centipede!" Daniel picks the vinegaroon, possibly because it's fun to say. Once everyone has their bugs, they start sketching. Melissa's got a giant spider, and she's going to be kind of literal with it. Daniel likes the armor on his bug and then talks a lot of nonsense about texture. Mychael's going to make a capelet that looks kind of like a cocoon. Sure.
Mood. The budget is $250, and Irina explains that she's got this novel strategy where she shops for just the right fabric. Cunning! She wants to make a spiral pattern to mimic her bug. Daniel's wandering around looking for something brown that looks kind of like armor. Elena has a proper crisis, because she loses her sketch. Oh no! Best to just buy a bunch of fabric and hope you can reconstruct something. Irina points out that Elena's kind of always panicking.
Workroom. The bugs are waiting for everyone. People swarm (bug reference!) the accessory wall so we can get some QVC product placement.
Instead of proceeding, we learn that Korto got to go to Liberia and design for Vanessa Williams. Melissa launched a company and wants to take it to the level. She's using cream silk to emulate the shape of her spider's body.
Elena is pretty loud about having to sketch again. She also claims she's about to puke. She's literally worried sick!
Mychael's hornworm looks like candy. It's a green cylinder with a white stripe going in a spiral around it. It looks like a peppermint stick.
Christopher is realizing the ridiculous time pressure they're under, because he apparently forgot that they're expected to make something in just ten hours. Jeffrey complains that he hasn't made an avant-garde look in a long time, although he makes sure to mention that he designed something for Marilyn Manson once.
Zanna's here! She reminds everyone that avant-garde is about being daring. She starts with Mychael, who is making what is essentially a hornworm costume: it's a green cylinder with a spiral white stripe. Zanna says, "This, to me, is elimination worthy." That means she would poop on it. That's a joke I decided was worth writing down and making you read. You're welcome! Mychael decides to start over, but he's pretty much stuck with the bright green fabric. Zanna congratulates Elena on winning last week, and then she gets drawn into Elena's panic whirlpool. She recommends that Elena not be too literal.
Jeffrey's got a beige scorpion, but his dress is going to have a lot of red to represent violence. And he's making a "cozy wrap" out of some foam that will be sort of like claws. Zanna is not sure what to say about this. Irina might be doing a bumblebee dress. Most of the rest of Zanna's recommendations are either "don't be boring" or "don't just do a literal version of the insect." Zanna tells Daniel to go berserk. In her opinion, if it's not completely bonkers, it's not avant-garde Zanna thinks Melissa's dress looks a little boring, and it does not have the attitude of her cool spider. Zanna gives a final speech about how disappointed she is in everybody and she's out.
Melissa is changing her entire dress so it's not a gown that looks like a zebra. Jeffrey suggests that maybe she shouldn't start entirely from scratch. Mychael is also starting over. And then the models come in!
Daniel raises his hem and is very optimistic. Elena has some pieces of fabric, but no clothes for the model. She's so behind that she has her model cut some strips of fabric, which raises some eyebrows in the workroom. If you think that's bad, you should have seen Face Off the last couple of weeks, where models were expected to apply their own body paint and facial prosthetics.
Mychael's now talking about folding his fabric to mimic reticulation. Daniel thinks Christopher's garment is very futuristic, especially the tentacles on the fingers. Elena realizes she's been sewing something wrong and shrieks in horror. Christopher just murmurs, "Can you imagine all day with her?" It's some pretty good shade-throwing. Now Elena is stomping through the workroom sobbing as her model avoids eye contact and continues to cut strips.
The models leave. Melissa says that the difference between her reboot and Mychael's is that he changed directions and went straight for his new look, while she's been second-guessing herself all day. We didn't see any of that, but I think that's because she's been doing it quietly while Elena got all the camera time with her various breakdowns.
Runway day. Everyone is sewing. Elena is already crying. Daniel and Mychael both seem to feel like they'll be finished in time. Jeffrey puts a bag over his model's head, which prompts Korto to shake her head and say, "Bless his heart." Melissa was planning on four carriage pieces on each side of her dress. It doesn't matter what those are; the important things to know are that A) those were the most avant-garde elements, and B) she's only done two. Hair and makeup are sillier than usual, because it's an avant-garde challenge. Elena is just in tears constantly, and Viktor starts helping her just because he hates seeing people cry. Jeffrey's outfit is very silly, especially with this big foam thing around the model's neck. Christopher accurately compares it to the leg lamp from A Christmas Story. Melissa is also in tears as she steps back and looks at her dress: "This isn't what I originally envisioned. This is nothing." She thinks the only thing that could save her from going home is if Jeffrey takes the bullet.
Actual Runway! Alyssa introduces the judges, who are Georgina Chapman and Isaac Mizrahi. They get a lot more description than that, including lavish praise of Georgina's various Marchesa-branded ventures. I will say that I approve of naming things after the Marchesa Casati. And there's a guest judge! She's respected jeweler to the stars Jennifer Meyer. And there's another guest judge! It's season nine winner Anya Ayoung-Chee, who I personally liked.
Seth Aaron has made a red and black dress that looks like it's made out of plastic. It moves poorly. There are trash bag elements. Mychael's model can't lift her arms, but maybe he'll claim that it's because she's in a cocoon. The back is cool. Daniel's looks like a fabric minidress that then has another eighteen inches of brown plastic, and a comically long train in the back. And the neck is very silly, which he seems okay with. Korto's garment feels like something you'd see in a 1980s movie set in 2013. Jeffrey's outfit is completely ridiculous. I see no merit in it, but sometimes that's what "avant-garde" means. Melissa's is probably too boring. Viktor's looks fine, but I'm distracted by this shot of him fanning himself while wearing studded bike gloves. Also, I just noticed that the all-stars get comfortable armchairs, while the regular Project Runway designers got folding chairs. It's a good gown, though. Irina's dress feels like exactly the right level of crazy angular nonsense. Christopher's has a really near color scheme and silhouette. Elena likes her striking color scheme from a distance, but she's concerned about the sloppy work up close.
Alyssa has Elena, Irina, and Melissa step forward. She tells them they'll be critiqued. Then Seth Aaron and Korto are safe. They run off. Mychael, Jeffrey, and Daniel are also getting critiqued. Viktor and Christopher are safe. That was much more convoluted than usual. From now on, when a host gets needlessly weird, it's "Pulling an Alyssa."
Irina goes first. She describes her skirt as a duvet cover, and Georgina loves everything but the feathers around the model's face. Anya likes the mix of textures. Daniel claims his train represents what the vinegaroon shoots out the back. Isaac dislikes the neck thing. Alyssa agrees that the proportions are off. Isaac hates Jeffrey's hood because the woman who would wear this (no one would wear this) won't be able to drink her martini. Jeffrey points out that he wasn't really making a dress for a woman to go to a party in. Isaac claims that "avant-garde should not be mistaken for unwearable clothes." Jeffrey claims that it's wearable, and I guess he's technically right. He takes the foam cowl off and it looks slightly less crazy. Alyssa says she'd never wear this, "except maybe the hood in the bedroom." Draw your own conclusions. Anya thinks it's an outfit for a Lady Gaga backup dancer.
The judges like Elena's colors and proportions. Anya even says, "This represents exactly what I think avant-garde is." That's it for her. Mychael's neoprene looks like wool, and apparently that's good. Isaac wrote down "expensive and strange," which is good. Melissa gets some praise for the dress, although it's not avant-garde enough for everyone. Isaac thinks she should have done more of the straps, and she agrees. Jennifer agrees with everyone that it's probably not avant-garde enough, but she notes that she'd totally wear this dress. So that's a good sign.
The designers are shooed away so the five (!) judges can start talking. In the back, Jeffrey is already defensive, saying that at least he likes his dress. Melissa is concerned because she was in the bottom last week as well.
Deliberations. Isaac has a lot of opinions about what is couture. Anya sticks up for the difficulty of shopping for materials in thirty minutes. At least half the talking is by Isaac. Anya is very dismissive of Daniel's taste level in picking this brown lamé that I thought looked like plastic. With Jeffrey not there, everyone's willing to admit that they just hated his dress to pieces. He did a good job of defending it, but that goes only so far.
The designers come back out. Irina is safe, so the winner is either Elena or Mychael. It's Mychael! And Elena is safe, so we're getting at least one more week of Lady Freak-out. Jeffrey is safe, leaving Melissa and Daniel. Alyssa praises Daniel's energy, which is a bad sign for him. He's out. Melissa is shocked to still be in. She gets off the runway before they change their mind. Daniel claims that he's won just by being here, which I don't think is an entirely accurate statement. But he's a basically cheerful person, so he'll be fine.
Follow Monty on Twitter at @monty_ashley and read his blog, Mysterious Exhortations.