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The Fashion Show, week 1 winner, James-Paul 'Experimental Designer'
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James-Paul 'The Experimental Designer'
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So what are the first thoughts on Bravo's new reality competition - The Fashion Show?
Personally I expected more, I thought the contestants would come out fighting with creative designs and fresh looking outfits. Instead I saw cheap imitations and designs that looked like they were from first year fashion students. There seemed to be more fighting with words as there was the usual drama and cat fights expected from reality TV. Memories of fashion college and an all girls high school came flooding back! Not fun when you are in it but as Bravo TV knows it pulls in an audience.
So by the time the first Harper's Bazaar Mini Challenge was over I was more than disappointed. The contestants had to make a LBD out of a simple black tee. For a group of contestants who all have fashion backgrounds, have either trained or worked in fashion, some even claim to have produced collections it should have been a breeze. However the LBD challenge was a disaster! I don't think I could have worn any of those dresses and walked out of the house feeling confident. So three mini winners had to be picked ... Keith, Johnny R and Merlin.
As team leaders for the Elimination Challenge they each picked their teams and each group had to design five looks around one 'must have' garment which they also had to design as a team.
Team Keith's garment: Tube Skirt.
Team Johnny R's garment: Harem Pants.
Team Merlin's garment: Bolero Jacket.
Perhaps it was nerves or the fact none of them knew how to work as a group as they were just introduced but boy did things start to go wrong quickly! The tube skirt was so tight that the skinny models in the show had trouble pulling it on and walking the runway!! The bolero jacket which at first looked okay ended up being slashed so it had a strange gap at the back. In the end the harem pants which at first sounded awful was my favorite must have piece. It fitted well, looked good and didn't make the models look like M.C Hammer.
So the runway begins and the complete fifteen looks start coming out. You can tell straight away who should be there as a true talent. Everyone I have spoken to has their favorites and many people agree on the same contestants but if I had to pick my top three from the first week they would be:
James-Paul, Reco and dare I say it Merlin. I just hope Merlin stops the name calling and tantrums as it would be awful for the nice people of the world for him to win staying with the attitude he has.
Reco, whose must have item was the harem pants, made a wonderfully crafted jacket tailored and tucked in all the right places. Merlin's complete outfit of the bolero jacket, bubbled shorts and embellished top ended up looking cute and young which was what he wanted.
The good news though which will keep me watching for at least another week is the quiet hard working contestant James-Paul, who for the first episode stayed out of the rude remarks gang, to become week one winner! This is the way it should be; TALENT should win, hard work should win and just because you are quiet doesn't mean you should not be counted. Why is it on most reality shows and often in the workplace the loud back-stabbing 'contestant' gets to the front? Perhaps this is a sign of the times; that as well as talent a persons character really does shine through.
Week one winner James-Paul, who I will say again deserved it the most, created an outfit that you could tell immediately was the best of the bunch and wearable. He created a black dress which looks sleek and has a sculpted asymmetrical hem. With drapes high and low this could have gone so wrong but James-Paul pulled his talent together to produce a look two international designers Tadashi Shoji and Elie Tahari called their favorite outfit from the show.
So the eliminated contestant from week one was Jonny D, who in all fairness is a menswear designer so did not have as much experience in women's fashion as the rest, however someone has to go -
"We're just not buying it, bye-bye darling" - Isaac Mizrahi.
James-Paul aka 'The Experimental Designer.'
His secret weapon he says: "my brain." Having studied at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in L.A, London South Bank University and American Intercontinental University in London he then went on to work at the Vivienne Westwood studios. It was there he learnt to think outside the box and make garments not found in books. Definitely a contestant to look out for!
James-Paul's winning dress is available to buy on bravoshop.com priced at $199.00, also available for $99.00 is the winning teams bolero jacket.
All the contestants better step up their game as at one point I was more interested in the outfits they were wearing rather than designing!
Week 2 roll on ...
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