Kini watch: A win for 'All Stars' athleisure ensemble

Lifetime photos
Kini Zamora finally scored a win with his athleisure separates.

'PROJECT RUNWAY' ALL STARS SEASON 5
Episode 9 recap: "A Touch of Style"

The designers head out to Coney Island, ending up at Cyclone Stadium, where host Alyssa Milano introduces her Touch line of apparel, which she created a decade ago when she was at a game and couldn't find anything cute to wear from the gift shop.

The designers are given the task of coming with a garment befitting today's athleisure trend, smart leisure apparel inspired by athletic apparel. The idea is that the wearer should be able to take the look from stadium to a nice dinner afterward. The winning look will be modified and sold as part of the Touch line.

Shopping at Mood, many of the designers end up with the same types of fabric in blue. Hawaii designer Kini Zamora and Sam Donovan, whose specialty is said to be athleisure apparel, end up with the same mesh fabric, but come up with totally different looks.

Alyssa Milano in the KiniZamora X Touch by Alyssa Milano jacket, available for $99.99 at m.fanatics.com. The top was really cute too, with shoulder cut-outs that weren't shown during the episode.

Donovan comes up with a dress in blue neoprene with the mesh overlay. He has black lace in the back, which mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi criticizes for lack of cohesion. Save for the fabric, there is nothing about the design that suggests "athleisure." It is a cute dress that ends up merely embellished with lace at the waistline and used as cap sleeves. In judging, he ends up in the bottom three for not meeting the challenge, and Milano said his dress was like a slap in the face because he understands athleisure, yet chose to do what he wanted outside of the rules. In judging, he is nevertheless declared safe.

As usual, Dom Streater pulls together multiple types of fabric to piece together a convertible shift, with an illusion back and panel at the hem that can be snapped on and off depending on the weather or wearer's activities. So clever. She and Kini are placed on top.

Sam ignored the spirit of the challenge and merely came up with a dress in sporty fabric.

In the end, Kini is named the winner for separates of denim jeans and a simple red top and the piece de resistance, a long baseball-inspired jacket with a white mesh panel on one side for interest. For Milano, it's an easy sell for her line because fans of the game will understand the look, whereas only the most fashionable will get Dom's look.

During the competition, Ken Laurence lost time because he was frustrated by mistakes he'd made in construction, and in a fit, decided to go home. He returns the next day in a good mood, and finishes his hoodie, but Isaac said the look caters to the lowest common denominator, and Laurence ends up in the bottom with Layana Aguilar.

Layanna is also an athleisure specialist, and she puts in a lot of construction time creating a pant by piecing together 40 pieces of her textured blue fabric. It's quite a feat but the pant doesn't mesh well with her polished crop top, and after being in the bottom so many times, she is finally sent home.

The weird thing is, if she created pieces more like the ones she wears herself, she would probably have ended up in the top three.

Layana was sent home for separates that were interesting individually, but wrong together.

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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.