Dear Shoe Lover,
It was only a matter of time before a shoe version of our favorite show popped up - and Shoe Star is it.
Sponsored by Nine West and FN (Footwear News) the Shoe Star competition has many similar elements of Project Runway - celebrity judges, interesting challenges, deadlines, tough critiques, invaluable exposure and a nice payoff for the winner. Some of the judges past and present have included Stuart Weitzman, Giuseppe Zanotti, Patricia Field (of Sex and the City fame), and James Mishka and Mark Badgley of Badgley Mishka. Future judges are big - A list.
The payoff for the winner is a job on the Nine West design team with a very good salary and an opportunity to learn from some of the best in the business.
The designers have all been drawn from the accessory design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC - originally there were 7 selected -
Lana, Karen, Kerry, Kristen, Ryan, Melanie and Melissa - Lana and Kristen have since been eliminated. I'd suggest checking out ninewest.com to get up to speed on the previous and future challenges.
I have a unique insight into the competitors having taught each of them at F.I.T. over the last couple of years.
Here is my take on the designers;
I hadn't expected Lana and Kristen to exit quickly - both are strong designers - Lana took it all very seriously, perhaps too seriously. Not sure what happened to Kristen.
Karen I've seen at work in and out of FIT. She can be hit or miss - brilliant one day - poor the next. Ego in check - she could take it all.
Kerry I know the least well. But her work in the 'Green' challenge was good and surprising. She will have to continue to push the level of her design to hang with the rest.
Ryan is a surprise. He's a whiz at sneakers but not much a fashion guy and I honestly didn't expect him to make the first 7. Now that he's in he has done some very solid work. He's a last minute kind of guy - he'll need to watch the use of his time.
Melanie is a professional. She presents well, she is a solid designer, she has business sense, she uses her time well, she know her customer. Nothing else to say.
Melissa is interesting - she's worked for Betsey Johnson among others. She is very clever - but she can sometimes lose steam. The real challenge for her is to maintain enthusiasm - if she keeps it fresh - she's as good as the best.
The gaps between the challenges and production is long and frustrating - but - understand - these designers are still students - in their final semester - taking a full load of classes - many also performing a design internship. The big challenge is time management. And getting your story straight - why did you do what you did? And believe it.
My take - the design results thus far have been average, the judging very tough, production slow. The remaining competitors are hungry for it - keep watching.
Cheers,
Anthony
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