FashioNXT Photos, Part 3: Michelle Lesniak's Breakup Collection, Mondo Guerra's Colorless, Patternless New Start, and More

The last two nights of this year’s FashioNXT held much of what we’ve come to expect from this particular series of fashion shows: A healthy number of new collections from the Project Runway set, including area favorites Michelle Lesniak and Seth Aaron, as well as franchise superstar Mondo Guerro and regulars like South Dakota’s Lenzanita and Portland’s Stephanie D Couture.

Click through for the best looks from each (including the ballet runway walk opener from Walter Mendez:

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Stephanie D Couture—an abrupt little collection that showed signs of branching out (casual wear?)… but too brief to finish that thought:

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Dream Dresses by P.M.N.: The Seattle brand does bridal in a rather conventional, confectionary way:

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Lenzanita’s been a FashioNXT regular for years now, and the South Dakota brand is enthusiastic about fringe, laser-cut leather detailing, and a slew of other place-referential flourishes. To me it reads tacky—though I hope someone amazing does justice to the fringed red leather jumpsuit, I really do.

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Wendy Ohlendorf often goes too fantastical to me, and her ideas can be magically quirky. I didn’t like this collection as well as some of her past work—it had its moments—but she’s marvelously unpredictable and certainly worth keeping an eye out for.

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Michelle Lesniak: After a rousing introduction during which she spoke about her emotive, artistic approach to fashion, Lesniak delivered “Pin Me, Pierce Me,” by far the most well-conceived collection of the evening, inspired by a personal breakup. There’s a lot of drama here—coats torn at the shoulders, literal pins crusted into organic medallions—and it will be interesting to see how much of that is preserved for the finished, for-sale product. Also, a haunting color palette that touches on one of the week’s overall takeaways: forest green is having a moment.

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FashioNXT long ago embraced its status as a favorite destination for Project Runway vets, and the finale night featured a trio: franchise favorite Mondo Guerra, Viktor Luna, and Vancouver’s Seth Aaron—who, regional favoritism not withstanding, I believe delivered the most compelling work. The man can certainly tailor! Guerra, meanwhile, broke with his own signature for an all-white palate cleanser: