PRAS Designers Are all About Some Cocktails — Cheers!

So this week, the designers were toyed with just a little! They were all so excited, as I would be too, because they were going to Jay-Z‘s hot NYC club, 40/40. It was supposed to be all about fun and enjoying a relaxing night. But hey, this is All-Stars, so haha, the joke was on them! Although, at least they got to enjoy 1 drink, even if it was for their challenge this week.

Alyssa was of course at the club to hand down the designers’ marching orders for this week. There was a list of cocktail beverages and each designer would choose one. This cocktail would serve as the inspiration for, drumroll please, a cocktail dress! The designers could take inspiration from the ingredients, the mixing process, the color, etc. They sketched at the club, but then were off to Mood with only a $100 budget for their 1 day challenge. Wow, kind of rough!

Speaking of rough, let’s talk about the cocktail selection process. Mychael got to choose first since he won last week. But then, he and every other designer had to choose who to toast to, meaning who would go next. I definitely think strategy took part in this as Seth Aaron and Irina were the final 2 standing. But I don’t know how necessary that was. It wasn’t as if any drink would really not work as an inspiration. Hold on because there is a bit more roughness the designers had to endure.

Zanna time of course consisted of her firm words of encouragement and wisdom. But this time she also added a twist for this week, no pun intended. No cocktail dress can go without a little garnish right? Of course not! So each designer had to now make an accessory to go with their cocktail dress. They could use their own fabric, another designers or somehow make something work from the QVC wall.

One other little side note from this week — what was with all of the references to copying or designer imitation this week? It was all a bit odd. Jeffrey said Korto’s look was a bit like Isaac’s resort collection from a few years back. Elena made a quip about Viktor’s dress being similar to Alexander McQueen. But maybe she was too quick with that quip since the judges referenced I think Balenciaga when critiquing her piece. I wonder what everyone else thought about this or if it even registered. Let me know!

But now onto the top & bottom. This week, the judges were joined by the accessories queen, Rebecca Minkoff and renown interior designer Nate Berkus. I wasn’t entirely on board with the judges this week, but I can see their logic. I think one big surprise for me was that Irina was not in the top. I loved her shimmery gold cocktail dress, inspired by the Strawberry Fields concoction. It certainly looked luxe to me, nowhere near the $100s she spent. So how did the judges pick their winning look this week?

I wasn’t sure if the judges would really like Christopher’s “The Rose” inspired dress, but I’m glad they did. Alyssa handed down another twist during deliberations and said she would wear the winning look. When this happened I thought, well that means Chris is out of the running to win, but she decided to wear 2 top looks? I think he should have won this week, but I will settle for top 3!

Viktor actually won this week with his “Tiger Eyes” inspired look, which was a bit shocking to me. One because how did the judges tire from their Elena kool-aid, haha! I for sure thought since she was in the top again that she would win. Plus, it didn’t seem as if the judges were all in agreement over Viktor’s look, but regardless, he won. I didn’t get it because it was a bit sloppy looking to me around the hem and the slit, but he did do a divine job with the cutouts.

Speaking of cutouts, Elena also created a quite fetching “Sardinia” inspired cutout dress. It was well constructed and chic. The seaming detail was also eye-catching. It wasn’t a surprise she ended up on top. I thought I remembered hearing the designers talk about color as an inspiration. I didn’t see that with most of the looks. But inspiration doesn’t have to be literal. This worked well for some of the designers. But not so much for others since I think the bottom designers went a bit more for literal inspirations.

Korto’s Summer-inspired cocktail dress was first up for the bottom. She went with a green and yellow print to show inspiration from her cocktail. The judges quickly took her out of the elimination running however. There focus for who to send home was on the other 2 in the bottom — Jeffrey and Melissa.

I wasn’t sure if Melissa would get a 3rd chance. Even though she’s been in the bottom a lot, there was still a wearability factor for her pieces. Whereas Jeffrey’s dresses, who also has been in the bottom twice now, didn’t have that capability. His Le Exotique inspired dress this week was just very dated. With a lower budget, he really should have paid more attention to his fabric choice.

But it was Melissa’s Sunset-inspired cocktail dress that was tossed aside this week. I would have voted Jeffrey out, personally, but the judges, I guess, were out of chances for Melissa this week.

Excited for next week, can’t wait! Remember, keep up with Fashion Nexus by liking on Facebook! By liking, you are entered into the amazing giveaways I will have going on. This week’s giveaway can be seen below!