A Day For Stripes

"Beach Day Stripes"
Abstract, 20"' x 24"
Available here.
Inspired by Project Runway, Season 5, Episode 14 (finale), Kenley Collins design

Kenley Collins was one of those designers on Project Runway who you loved to hate. Some of her designs were amazing yet her whiny personality and mean spirit did not gain a lot of fans. In the finale of Season 5 she was up against two other great designers, Leanne Marshall and Korto Momolu. Ultimately, not only did her fashions look like the works of other, better-known designers, but her line was less cohesive, less unusual and less innovative than either Korto’s or Leanne’s.

The judges seemed to agree on this, but naturally Kenley didn’t. In that nasal whine that was as much a signature as her flocked retro fashions, Kenley declared the judges’ assessment unfair. “It crushes me. No one likes to be called a copycat when they know that they’re a true artist. And it kills me that that’s what they think.” Oh please. 

(Click here to see how much her final design really did look like a copycat.) Technically, the judges didn’t call her a copycat, they said that she needs to look at other fashion lines so she knows what’s original and what’s not. “She needs to take a fashion history course, quite frankly,” Tim Gunn breathed in exasperation.

Given all of the drama with Kenley, I just had to use one of her dresses as an inspiration for a painting. i love the colors and the "stripe" of print that flows down the front of the dress. Thus, here is my finished painting!