Melissa makes it through close call on “Runway”
by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor
Fans of Melissa Fleis had reason to be nervous during last week’s episode of “Project Runway All-Stars.” The Rogers City native nearly had her run ended on the designing competition show last week in the show’s avant-garde challenge.
In the show where one designer is voted off the show each week, Fleis fell into the bottom half of the competition and looked to be in danger of being voted off.
The designers were sent to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City to be inspired by one of 10 insects or arachnids on display. The challenge drew some unusual creations from the designers, as designers went wild with their buggy ideas. One designer chose to put a bag over the head of his model, a choice not appreciated by all the judges, one of which called it unwearable.
The judges chose Fleis as one of six to be critiqued while the other designers were sent to safety.
Fleis chose a Sri Lankan ornamental spider as her inspiration for a dark dress. Once in the workroom, Fleis changed her plan after getting advice from mentor Zanna Roberts Rassi, who is a fashion correspondent. But when Fleis explained her design on the runway to the judges, they questioned why she changed her plan, as they liked her original design better than the one suggested by Rassi.
“I’m still second guessing myself because I don’t think it is avant-garde enough,” Fleis said as her model walked the runway wearing her creation. “It is not like the worst thing I ever made in my life, but it is just not what I wanted.”
After announcing the winner and sending three others to safety, Melissa stood on the runway with designer Daniel Esquivel, of Austin, Texas, who finished fourth place in season 11 of the show.
Host Alyssa Milano told Fleis she created a beautiful black dress but there was nothing avant-garde about her dress, but one judge called it “beautiful.”
Daniel’s dress was viewed as “way too literal” for the judges’ tastes. When Milano announced that Daniel would leave the competition, a visibly shaken Fleis bent her knees and said “thank you” to the judges for sparing her for another week.
Fleis lives in San Francisco and is a 1998 graduate of Rogers City High School. She is the daughter of Jim and Doris Fleis of Rogers City.
Tonight’s challenge is to create a cocktail dress to please the judges. The show airs at 9 p.m. on Lifetime.
Advance publisher Richard Lamb: Right up to the point when they didn’t say your name as the one who was out, were you thinking, “This is it?”
Melissa Fleis: I knew I was in trouble from the moment I left the workroom, and that scared me quite a bit. When you are only one of two left standing up on that runway, “this is it” definitely runs through your head. I just remember thinking, “This can’t be it.”
Advance: When the mentor told you she didn’t like your design. You immediately changed it. Turns out, that wasn’t very good advice. Do you think it would have been better to go with your first design?
Melissa: I didn’t listen to my instincts this time, and that was my biggest problem. I was super nervous about being on the bottom again, and I trusted her advice. I should have taken a moment to assess the situation, as well as my current design – but I didn’t. Instead, I mistakenly looked at the clock and made the decision to change my idea. Looking back, I think I could have altered my original design to make it more avant-garde. “Project Runway” has a lot of those “could of – would of – should of” moments, however, it’s best to not regret what I’ve done.
Advance: Regarding the advice, it really comes down to an individual’s tastes, whether a fashion piece works or not. Knowing that, does that make it more difficult to design something for the judges?
Melissa: Art and design is so subjective, and I had a really difficult time understanding what the new group of judges wanted this time around. I felt like they were always sending mixed messages, which left me very confused. For example, Alyssa Milano didn’t like my “punk” leather vest the first time around, and then favorably referenced it in my avant-garde critique? Very strange.
Advance: Last one.
Melissa: At this point in the show I realized the magic I had in Season 10 wasn’t there for some reason, and that made everything harder for me. I had a lot of expectations about what I could do this time around, and I really didn’t want to let myself, or anyone else down. The competition on “All-Stars” is pretty ridiculous; it’s a whole new game with amazingly talented designers who have entirely new motives and tactics to win. In a way, I felt like just being me wasn’t going to cut it.