Fashionable Writing

Here it is folks, the shocker of the week. Project Runway is a Lifetime series with host, Heidi Klum. I don't know what made me start watching such a show this year. I'm not a fashion conscious person...at all! I'm lucky to match jeans and a tee shirt, and don't get my more fashionable friends started on my shoes. Do I wash them? No. Do I have a different pair for each outfit? No. I rarely wear makeup and I'm lucky to brush my hair once a day. So, for me to watch a show about aspiring fashion designers with models strutting down the runway is about hilarious. But, I love it and last night, they repaid me for my loyalty.

The challenge for the designers was to design an outfit for a certain genre of movie. They had the creative freedom to make their own story for their outfit. A lot of the designers didn't quite 'get it.' If they chose the genre, Western, they thought of John Wayne and the like. Of course-the models are women. There were a few contestants that really impressed me, though. The ones that thought of their character and the role their character played in that genre of story. I sat on my couch, stunned to see people that live for fashion really thinking of a backstory for their character before even making the outfit.

One contestant didn't think of a story at all. She just went with the genre. Her outfit was predictable and plain. Another wanted to do a period piece and went with the '20's. She didn't really think of a story other than that her character just discovered oil. (? I don't know what that was about-the dress was a typical flapper girl outfit in the color of gold)

The contestant that won the challenge of the week was Nicolas. Nicolas is one of my favorite designers-he queens out just enough to keep you entertained, and you can see his passion for his work. At any rate, he designed for the sci-fi genre. Wow is all I can say. He first thought of his story. His character was a villainous queen, bent on overthrowing her sisters to rule the throne alone. She was from a cold planet, the dress was white and they did her hair and makeup to make her appear very...frozen.

Never in a million years would I have thought of authors working in collaboration with fashionistas! However, I was shown something very important by watching this show. Fiction is everywhere, stories abound...they are the glue behind the scenes-in the most incredible of places.

I smiled when he won, knowing that he did it right. He really thought of his character and his story and let the fashion come from that. I also noticed that the designers that didn't think of a story-but only the genre-were the ones with the lowest scores and the one that was eliminated made up a story on the fly when the judges asked him, and it was pretty obvious.

From now on, when watching Project Runway and the husband asks, "What does this have to do with writing?" Tell him it's research. :)

PS I was going to post a pretty "PROJECT RUNWAY" banner, to make my blog cuter-but then I got to wondering about copyrights and pictures and all that, and I'm not sure how to make sure there's a link under the picture to say where it originated, blah blah...so I didn't...but if anyone knows about that stuff, feel free to let me know!