Fashion Star Week 8: Menswear Dilemma

The designers (from left to right: Garrett and JesseRay, Cassandra, and Sylvia, missing: Daniel and Hunter)

Image Credit: sphotos-a.xx.net

I'm a huge fan of the reality/talent show Fashion Star.  If you've never heard of it before, it's basically where a group of fashion designers are selected to compete in ten weeks of challenges.  They are put into groups  mentored by Nicole Richie, John Varvatos, and Jessica Simpson and every week, they have to get bought by the buyers from Saks, Macy's or Express to be immune to elimination.  Of course, there are some exceptions, but that's the basic gist of it.  Also, the designs that get bought are sold at the stores that bought them, which is a really cool aspect of the show that I really like.  I will include the links underneath the photos of the pieces if you guys are interested in checking them out.

This week, the challenge was to design pieces for both women's and menswear.  Some of the designers haven't even stepped close to designing menswear, like Hunter, so it was definitely really interesting to see how they would cope under the pressure.

I can't say that Cassandra is my favourite designer, but she is Canadian, so I'm always rooting for her in the back of my mind.  Her Japan and plaid pant this week were just too basic and simple for my taste as I was hoping to see something a bit more elaborate and detailed, considering the complex idea she came up with last week.

Buy it here: www.macys.com

Buy it here: www.express.com



I was really shocked by what Sylvia put forth this week, especially since it was already so late in the competition - week  8.  She did a really simple polo for the menswear design and a sweater with a really shiny sheen-like finish which I honestly thought was a bit too much.  Don't get me wrong, the pieces are really well-made and nice (sorry for the use of such an "eh" word), but I just thought it wasn't really appropriate for this time in the competition.  I was really quite shocked by how much Teron from Saks liked the sweater and that he ended up buying it.  I thought he would be the one to make a snarky comment about how trashy the shirt looked because the sweater was exactly what I thought he would hate.

Buy it here: www.saks.com

Daniel has always been my favourite.  He's an artist that is often misunderstood, but I love him anyway.  He's really edgy with this designs, and even though it's not very commercial, I'm a huge fan of his designs.  And I'm so happy that he sold so much this week, even if the pieces weren't my favourites this week.

Buy it here: www.express.com

Buy it here: www.express.com



JesseRay and Garrett.  Ohmygosh.  Their dresses this week were so adorable and I loved them so, so much. 

Buy them here: www.macys.com

I definitely prefer the printed one to the chambray/denim dress because it's definitely a much more unique piece in my opinion, but the denim one would definitely be a staple in my closet.

And then there's Hunter.  Hunter, Hunter, Hunter.  I was a big fan of hers at the beginning of the show, but the past few weeks have been kind of lackluster for me.  I just feel like she has been loosing that spark, strength, and determination in her designs that really attracted me to her clothes at the start.  This week, she didn't sell any of her pieces - none of her jackets sold.

The way the Bottom 2 works is that the mentors pick two designers and the buyers decide who is going home, or who is not their Fashion Star, as they like to put it.  Because Hunter didn't sell this week, it was inevitable that she would be in the Bottom 2.  Sylvia's designs weren't very strong this week, so she was also put in the Bottom 2.

I usually agree with the buyers' decisions and this week was no different.  Erica from Express was the one left with the deciding vote and she sent (drum roll guys...) dun dun dun dunnn - Sylvia.  She justified her decision, saying that she doesn't think that Sylvia can cater to each of the three stores' needs.  I'm glad that Hunter got "saved" this week and I hope she uses this opportunity to get herself together and improve her designs, reanimating that spark that made me fall in love with her designs in the first place.

All in all, I was pretty happy with this week's episode.  If you haven't ever seen Fashion Star and you live in the States or Canada, you should definitely check it out on Friday nights on NBC at 8/7 c.  It's honestly one of my favourite shows because unlike most talent/reality TV shows focus on the catty and really nasty side of everything and make it the main reason why people tune in every week (cough cough American's Next Top Model, cough cough).  There aren't any fights and barely any disagreements with the contestants or the mentors, so it's just a really friendly environment because even the designers help each other out and give each other advice.

I hope you enjoyed this and thanks for reading!

- J

Image Credit: www.nbc.com