by Todd Betzold

A new season of Project Runway All Stars kicked off last night and we started off with a team challenge. Tensions usually run high on team challenges, but it was the first week and I think the designers were still finding themselves and things were very calm...shockingly. Peach Carr felt out of her element in the first challenge, since she comes from tennis wear, and her look fell short and the judges sent her home. Today she spoke to RealityWanted about her problems with the model and her experiences on Project Runway All Stars.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What made you want to come back for Project Runway All Stars?
A. Peach: I originally didn't (laughs). I was very dragging my feet, but I thought it might be another opportunity. I had grown so much as a designer from Season 8 until now and I thought I just want to show everybody what Lifetime did for me was give me a vision and a focus and some direction in my design, so I thought it would be fun to go back in the arena and say this is who I am now.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: You seemed out of your element for the team challenge last night and the materials used. Was that the case? It just seemed like you weren't too confident.
A. Peach: I'm asking you to understand this is an explanation and not excuses because my hands did create that. They film for 20 hours and you get an hour of it. When we first got together as a team we spent so much time trying to figure out which out which word to use. We only had 30 minutes and that ate up like 25 of them. Laura was kind of the driver of the bus and said let's all sketch something. I sketched one of more modern 70s or 60s aesthetic and everybody said that is not our client and you are going in the wrong direction and you are a sportswear designer and we are doing more of a cocktail/evening thing. It was surprising to me to hear that because the last time I did a team challenge we coordinated fabrics, but we certainly didn't tell each other what to design. We struggled with fabrications and we spent our entire time at Mood trying to figure out what shade of blue. We were like squirrels in the middle of the road at fall harvest and we were all over the place. There was a lot of interesting exchanges that went down and I was surprised there were some personal things going on and not necessarily a team thing. When we got to the fittings, it was as surprising for Lifetime as it was for me. My model came in and my top was nine pieces, but you couldn't tell. When I fitted it to her it was crooked. I brought a grid and a drew all my patterns on the grid and I thought why is this so crooked? It was lopsided and when she left I put it back on the grid and sure enough it was square. It wasn't until the next morning that I noticed when I put the skirt on her there was a two-inch difference between her left and right side. She had scoliosis. She didn't tell the agency and she certainly didn't tell Lifetime, so when I went to the producers and their jobs were on the ground and there is nothing you can do. The girl is there and we only have 15 minutes to hit the runway, so I spent so much of my time to fix the fit issues. Was my garment the best one on the runway? Heavens no, but was it the worst? I don't think so, but I did take responsibility and my hands made that outfit and it wasn't my day.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: The team challenges always seem to be the worst for the designers. Do you think you would still be there if it was an individual challenge?
A. Peach: Hell yes. If you look at my website and see some of the things I am doing there is just no way. We were all shocked about the team challenge, but there is no doubt in my mind I would have been fine if I had done my deal. To start out with a team challenge where we had to do a collection was tough. Nobody liked that. Not one person out of the 13 said oh good.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: On the runway, you seemed to not defend your look very well and Isaac even said you talking about it makes him not like it even more. Do you think it was your lack of defending the look that sent you home or the look itself?
A. Peach: Oh no, definitely. That runway goes on forever, not just the five or six comments. There is no doubt that I went home, not because I had the worst design, but because I didn't stand there and do a fabulous tap dance and talk about how fabulous it was and how much I loved it. I went home and I said at least they didn't question my taste because that is always terrible to say.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: What can our readers expect to see from you next?
A. Peach: I do have a website and I am in a bunch of boutiques. I have a couple exciting projects coming up that aren't solidified yet. There is so much ahead of me and I say this a thousand times and I am not kidding. This opportunity that Lifetime gave me at 50 years old two years ago has opened so many doors that if you go ahead and have the courage to open up and put your foot in and walk through. The people in Chicago have been so good to me. There is a bunch yet ahead of me and I'm certainly not close to being finished.

Q. Todd, RealityWanted: Who is your dream celebrity to work with?
A. Peach: I do have a killer dress for Michelle Obama, if only she would put it on. I think Jennifer Hudson would be my dream client. She is a Chicago girl and she's got the kind of figure I do a lot of designing for. She has a real woman's body. She looks phenomenal, but she has some curves to her. She is gorgeous and she is talented, so she would be my number one client to throw some clothes on.

Project Runway All Stars airs Thursdays at 9/8c on Lifetime.

(Image courtesy of Lifetime)

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