'All Stars': Fashion to the rescue

Lifetime photos
The designers learn about their unconventional challenge."

'PROJECT RUNWAY' ALL STARS SEASON 5
Episode 4 recap: "Fashion 911"

This is the week of the unconventional challenge and host Alyssa Milano catches up with the designers by arriving by ambulance. In honoring New York City's EMTs—the policemen, firemen and ambulance crews—the designers unconventional materials will come from these public services.

Hawaii designer Kini Zamora picks surgical gloves that look like rubber balloons when sewn together, and proceeds to make a cocktail dress.

Along the way, Layana Aguilar says that this is the first time she doesn't like what Kini is doing, saying of his dress, "I think it looks like a piñata." He's also warned by mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi not to create a parade float.

But, in "Project Runway All Stars" storytelling format, they're not featuring Kini much in this episode, so I'm pretty sure he'll end up in the middle of the pack, and he does.

Alexander Pope talks about still being high off his win last week, but as far as I'm concerned, he just got lucky that he had been partnered with Asha Daniels, whose dress was so cute, just as Sam Donovan's look last week should have been attributed to Kini.

Hawaii designer Kini Zamora puts his skills to the test on the set of "Project Runway All Stars."

Stella Zotis tries to use oxygen tubes to make a jacket, but without transforming her material, her nonsensical garment is more alien art project than fashion, and Rassi reminds her this is a runway challenge, not an art challenge. Stella is warned not to be too crafty. and has to start over.

What she ends up with looks pretty cute, a T-shirt with the New York skyline designed from X-rays, worn over a pencil skirt. But she ends up on the bottom with Asha and Alexander.

As usual, Alexander's mini dress is tacky. But the judges deem Stella's look as being too "Forever 21" basic so she is sent home. Her excuse was that she was not true to her vision in finishing her hose coat. If that made her loss easier to swallow, that's fine for her, but truth is, the hose coat would have gotten her sent home because it missed the point of transforming the material to look like fabric.

Meanwhile, Sam came up with a striking, haphazard but couture-looking, boxy dress length jacket, and is named the winner.

Kini's design.

 Sam's winning look.

I thought Dom Streater's creation was stunning and should have placed higher. She didn't even crack top 3! It definitely didn't look like unconventional materials. She used cut-up X-rays to create her pattern.

 Stella came up with a cute save, but it wasn't enough to prevent her from going home.

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Nadine Kam is Style Editor and staff restaurant critic at the Honolulu Star-Advertiser; her coverage is in print on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Contact her via email at nkam@staradvertiser.com and follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Rebel Mouse.