The "Project Runway All Stars" contestants were tasked with designing a cocktail dress for Miss Piggy to wear on the red carpet. Her ears didn't figure into all the designs, but they were discussed at length in the judging.Miss Piggy, star of "The Muppets," was the guest customer, guest judge and by far the guest star of Episode 3 of "Project Runway All-Stars."
Missy Piggy's repartee with guest judge Eric Dagan, who filled in for the unavailable Isaac Mizrahi, during the critiques was the highlight of a challenge that saw Michael Costello clearly establish himself as one of the designers to beat in this inaugural All-Stars season. The super sow defended her most porcine properties and ultimately unleashed her signature swine swing.
The challenge was to design a cocktail dress for Miss Piggy to wear on the red carpet while promoting "The Muppets," a film that was released last Thanksgiving. The designers were given a budget of $150 and one day to create the dress.
"I'm so excited to meet her – she's like fashion's dream client," Michael said early on, revealing a heretofore well-hidden fashion industry secret.
Episode 2 winner Austin Scarlett said, "I feel I really do understand Miss Piggy. I feel that in many ways we are kindred spirits – I myself like to pepper my conversation with little French phrases the way miss Piggy does. Sometimes I call myself 'Moi.' " But the judging revealed that Austin didn't quite know as much as he thought about the peerless pig.
Austin fell from top to bottom this week. During his critique, the Eric and Miss Piggy exchange began. Austin sewed enormous bows at each hip of his satin gray and dark pink design. They didn't work well on the model, and seemed like a really bad idea for a pig.
"We really need to consider a woman's silhouette vs. a model's silhouette," Eric, who won an Emmy for his work as a designer for "Sex and The City," said in discussing Austin's design. "The bows are really gonna accentuate those hips in a way that they don't need to be accentuated."
View full sizeLeft to right, Angela Lindvall, guest judge Miss Piggy, Georgina Chapman and guest judge Eric Daman in the third challenge of "Project Runway: All Stars."That comment earned Eric, the costume designer for "Gossip Girl" show on the CW, a dirty look from Miss Piggy. Her silence spoke a thousand oinks.
While talking about Rami Kashou's runner-up polka-dot dress, there was this exchange:
Kenley Collins had a top-three design
, using a pink giraffe print upholstery fabric with a huge nest of pink tulle for a hat, prompting this Eric-Piggy interaction:
Later, in discussing
, which was accessorized with black leather gloves and a black hat with large loops, Eric said, "I wonder how the hat would work with your silhouette and your gorgeous ears ... and if you feel comfortable with that or if it would accentuate it in the wrong way?"
Miss Piggy asked Eric to come close to him, deked him by asking about a button, and uncorked one of her patented “hi-yah!” pork chops to his mid-section.
"Stop it with all the pig remarks – my ears are just fine, thank you very much," she told him.
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Austin:
Georgina Chapman: "... beautifully constructed, but the choice of gray and pink is perhaps not quite the right pink; not reading happy."
Eric: "... we really need to consider a woman's silhouette vs. a model's silhouette ..."
Angela Lindvall: "... the shape of your dress is really beautiful, but something in the combination of the gray and the way it's constructed is throwing off my eye ... it's flamboyant, but not flamboyant in a classic way."
Miss Piggy: "I'm not really sure it's a functional dress – can you hula-hoop in that? ... shiny, futuristic."
Eric: "Futuristic if he was designing for pigs in space."
Rami:
Angela: "... this could be a difficult dress for the average woman to wear."
Miss Piggy: "Yeah, but I'm not average."
Georgina: "This dress is fun, it walked out and it made me smile."
Miss Piggy: "It's the most garish, outlandish, ridiculous thing I've ever seen. I love it!"
Angela: "... this was a fun dress."
Miss Piggy: "It definitely says, 'Hellooo, look at meee!' "
View full sizeGordana Gehlhausen's design for the third challenge of "Project Runway All Stars."Gordana, who offered a pink, fairly plain, nightgown-looking dress:
Angela: "It may be a little understated."
Miss Piggy: "It's a fine, fine dress ... I don't know if it's moi ... It just kind of sat there for moi. I kind of wondered where's the rest of it?"
Georgina: "It had too much gray in it, it's not a happy pink. It's not gonna flatter your curves."
Kenley:
Georgina: "The color was great. It popped and it made me smile. ... the top ... looks stuck down."
Eric: "It's cute, it's whimsical, I love the idea of using a modern-day giraffe print ... I liked the shape of the bust, but I feel like the construction of it was a little dubious."
Georgina: "I kept feeling like is it gonna pop off at any second."
Miss Piggy: "I've never worn giraffe print before. I'm not really sure what it says. Leopard print I understand – you know, a leopard is fierce. A giraffe, what is a giraffe?"
Mila, who presented a retro, Goth, black dress with white stripes on the sleeves and a single white stripe across the bottom:
Angela: "... where in your dress does the flamboyant aspect come in?"
Mila: "I struggle with the flamboyant adjective ..."
Georgina: "... when designing for the red carpet, color photographs better."
Eric: "You've got great linearity and the idea of graphism in your designs is really great, but you could have had a lot of fun with color on this one and we're sad we didn't see that from you."
Miss Piggy: "It doesn't scream 'Miss Piggy.' .. It whispers it."
Angela: "I'd like to see you in this Goth dress, it could be fun."
Miss Piggy: "Yes, maybe a good Halloween costume."
Michael:
View full sizeMichael Costello's design for the third challenge of "Project Runway All Stars."Georgina: "You took the project in a slightly more sophisticated direction, but I think it works. I liked the zip in the back, I thought that was a nice detail."
Angela: "I love the black glove and black hat, but because Miss Piggy loves pink so much, I would even consider going pink for her."
Miss Piggy: "I love that dress. It looks like a present. A present for Kermie."
Georgina: "You can imagine a million girls loving that dress."
Kenley: Safe
Michael: Winner
Rami: Safe
Austin: Safe
Mila: You're safe
Gordana: That means you're out
“This was so exciting. I wasn't thinking about who's gonna hate me or what's gonna happen. I was just blown away.”
Miss Piggy to Gordana: “You really are an All-Star Gordana. Remember that.”
“It's like every time I get into these challenges, it's just something unleashes in you and you just want to push farther. So I'm looking forward to going back home and unleashing it. The one thing that I want to say to people, especially women my age who have given up their lives to raise their families and send them to college – it's never too late to follow your own dream, whatever it might be."