For
Project Runway contestants, making it to the final group that shows at New York's Fashion Weeks is nearly as good as winning the whole dang thing. Sure, the hopeful designers would probably love the cash that goes along with the prize – although first season winner
Jay McCarroll turned it down in order to avoid the attached strings – but the chance to show a collection in front of the fashion cognoscenti? Potentially priceless.
Now, it's looking like you don't even necessarily have to make it to that final group to get a spot at Fashion Week. Blogging
Project Runway has reported that several designers will be featured this September – and only one of them was a finalist before.
Alison Kelly's elimination during the recycled materials was one of the most controversial decisions the
Project Runway judges have ever made. The young designer had consistently shown promise and originality – more so, many thought, than some of the others still in the competition at that point – and so her ousting made quite a few fans of the show angry.
In the reunion show for season 3, she said she had moved on, and it appears she certainly has. On September 6, she will be showing her line Dahl's Spring 2008 collection at the Prince George Ballroom. The press release for the event states the collection “takes an upbeat approach while staying true to its signature fierce, yet romantic quality her line has embodied with her previous collection.”
Laura Bennett, who did show at Fashion Week previously on season 3, will be participating in a special event. On September 7, MetLife – whose mascot is Peanuts character Snoopy – is putting on a show to benefit Dress for Success. The designers featured in the show have taken a Peanuts character as a starting point for a design of a high-fashion ensemble. Fansite Project Rungay has Laura's sketches; her inspirations were Pig Pen (cleverly transformed into a brown dress with a “cloud” of white fabric as a long jacket over it) and Woodstock (how could she resist the feathers? Of course it's a short cocktail dress with a feathered bottom half).
Both
Malan Breton and
Keith Michael will be showing their new collections on September 12.
Unfortunately, all of the shows tickets or RSVP's to attend, so it might not be possible for the regular fan-on-the-street to get a look. However, if the shows are successful, you might see the fashions featured in the pages of magazines soon.
- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: BloggingProjectRunway.blogspot.com, ProjectRungay.blogspot.com
(Image courtesy of Bravo)