Ripping the Collections: Wendy, Part One

Posted on Jan 24, 2007 in Fashion

Well, Wendy got her shot and good for her, we say. We can all scream and yell and stamp our feet about how she didn’t “deserve” to be there, but at the end of the day, the judges decided that she should and at the end of the day, all the strategizing in the world wasn’t going to do her a bit of good anyway because none of that matters in a runway show.

Let’s just say right off the bat that everything she made was very well executed. Her model selection and styling choices were uninspired (quel surprise) but really, the most awful thing about her show was the music. What a load of pretentious twaddle that was.

Let’s start the show.

How the hell did these designers afford so much fur on such a small budget?

It’s weird that she was freaking out over the Duchess’s suggestion that they start off with a “wow” piece and she chose this. This is “wow?” Unh-unh. This is dull. Catalogue clothes.

And that neckline is annoying.

There’s just not much to say here. More catalogue clothes. We’ve seen that coat in the knockoff shops on Canal Street — in 1996.

This is very pretty. Beautiful fabric and color, although that jacket doesn’t look as well-fitted as it should and that neckline trim seems to stop before it’s supposed to. Those shoes? Awful choice.

This is another pretty dress that you could pick up in any mall in America. That bust looks a little funky though. Gotta say, we can’t stand her but Olga looks hot here.

Awww. Some poor little lost model wandered onto the runway. How else to explain this? It doesn’t look like it belongs in the same collection at all. Ugh. GOD, this is ugly and dated. Easily ten years out of style.

Yow. That is FUG. Are we really looking at orange quilted satin? We’re dreaming this, right? We’re trying to avoid asking the question “What woman would wear this?” but we just have to ask “What woman would look GOOD in this?” Even taking into consideration the idea of the consumer editing to their satisfaction, it doesn’t work. How do you edit an orange quilted satin suit?

[Photos: FirstView]

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Bean

how do you edit orange quilted satin?

stuff it and sew the ends shut so it looks like a toy giraffe.
Bill

You called it perfectly – everything looks like catalogue wear.

Safe and boring and uninspired.

How could someone named Pepper have so little spice?
ToddNY

“Bean said…
how do you edit orange quilted satin?
stuff it and sew the ends shut so it looks like a toy giraffe.”

ROFL. That is SO funny, Bean!
Madeline

Oh no, time for elongated words. Boooooooooooooooooooring! Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugly! Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!

I totally agree with you girls.

Sparkle, shine, glitter and glow,
~Maddie
Anonymous

Yup, this is where Wendy was proved to be totally out of her league. There really isn’t much to say, but you found a way to say it.

Funny, though, I really liked the colors in general (love that autumn palette), but the clothing was less than ‘meh’.

I bet alot of her clientele comes to her with a magazine or catalog in hand, saying “Can you make me something like this, except without that, and in a different color, and a little longer…”.
Or words to that effect.

SNF in VA
Lisa

The worst part about the first outfit was the fact that the shirt kept getting stuck between the model’s legs as she walked. Truly disgusting.
Anonymous

i like martinique’s outfit :S
StefHunnyP

That’s faux croc skin – not quilted, I think. Then again, it’s Wendy, so who KNOWS!?
Lisa

Nah, it’s definitely quilted. The memory of it is permanently scorched into my mind’s eye.
Doodles

how do you edit orange quilted satin?

With a gallon of gasoline.
Anonymous

Do you guys completely lack imagination? How do you edit orange quilted satin? Why, you add a big ol’ pimp hat, of course.

Geez, do I have to do all the thinking around here?

Anne
Brandenburg3rd

“How do you edit an orange quilted satin suit?”

Flick yer Bic.
GothamTomato

The model who wore that orange suit was such a great walker that she ALMOST made it work.

But that first look was the worst–especially the way the top kept bunching up in the model’s crotch as she walked down the runway. Any designer who can cause a model with, esentially, no thighs, to have crotch bunch is seriously bad.

–Gotham Tomato
Anonymous

You guys are hilarious (T & L & posters alike)! Martinique is absolutely gorgeous. I glanced over the orange whatever to gaze at her. She’s the only element of that entire look that’s even remotely palatable. Everything else: Dayum.
Pittypat

As far as the bunching up of the first dress, it looked like static cling to me – a flowy dress over suedecloth type pants made the fabric stick to the pants when she walked. Unfortunate, but more of a bad pairing than a tailoring mistake I think.
Pittypat

Okay, I just have to comment on this. I went to Wendy’s site and looked at her 2006 collection. I am not a really picky person, and I liked a couple of Wendy’s pieces for the PR collection, but there isn’t a thing in her 2006 collection that I would want to see on anyone. However, Wendy herself has transformed even more. On the reunion show she looked really good, so obviously she had a makeover of some kind. But the pictures at the end of the collection were pretty amazing. She must have dropped 25 pounds, learned to wear makeup and do her hair, and adapted to the contacts. If nothing else, maybe PR turned her from the unattractive duckling into the swan. Good for you, Wendy.
Anonymous

I actually disagree about Wendy’s collection being horrible. There were bad elements to it, but overall I thought the colors were sensual and autumnal, and the collection was laudable. Definitely nowhere near Kara Saun’s or Jay’s, of course.
-Alex
nso

Sure, she’s out of her league. More dressmaker than creative designer. But she made good use of colors and textures, and at least some of the outfits are relatively attractive, wearable pieces. She lucked into a great opportunity & didn’t have the talent or vision to make that much of it. But she didn’t completely embarass herself either.
Anonymous

“I bet alot of her clientele comes to her with a magazine or catalog in hand, saying “Can you make me something like this, except without that, and in a different color, and a little longer…”.”

True, a lot of them also have more money then sense and either don’t want to take/have the time to go shopping and don’t understand the concept of a personal shopper or they want to be able to say they had something done custom.
As far as the orange mess, seems to me her thought process was…”I won with an orange outfit for the grammys and that was hip, orange is hip! I’m suprised the entire flippin collection wasn’t orange!!
Anonymous

I think that first burgundy top is really, really pretty (bunching up notwithstanding). But that’s no show opener! And the 2nd to last one, the leather skirt one, yes, it’s awfully out of date. But here’s the weird thing: scroll down Wendy’s outfits and then just past to Kara’s first outfit directly below the orange suit. Yikes!!
Anonymous

sooooooo awful, all of it. Makes Talbots look fashion forward. Tho’ I would like a toy giraffe made out of that orange quilty stuff.(LOL)
CP
Suzanne

One word: shiteous.
Anonymous

geez, it wasn’t that bad…at least A woman can be seen wearing her clothes…the only person who could wear Kara Saun’s are hooker stwardesses dressed up like pilots…
eric3000

OMG, I was so with you up until the quilted orange suit! I absolutely loved it; I thought it was gorgeous! I think it was one of the best pieces in her collection and I can’t believe you think it’s the worst! In fact, I can almost see it in Jay’s collection.
Anonymous

I also thought the orange suit was pretty nice, maybe it was just because Martinique can make anything look good.

Anyways, my favourite dress (perhaps my favourite of all the collections shown at bryant park), is coming up in part two, so I’ll wait till then.
Anonymous

I think you should have called this “shredding the collection”

I think her collection was fine with an international flair that is very appropriate for who her clients are: Rich older women in Washington DC.

I actually think Kara’s was less inspired than Wendys. A costume designer doing a collection based on a movie that looked like Gucci. Whats so innovative about that?

Wendy knows who her client is and what they want. DC is no fashion capital. Condervative is the order of the day. Jay said Wendy designs clothes that she thinks young woman would like. In DC young women do want that.

And I will repeat just for the record: When Michael Kors asked her if this collection represented who she was as a women I wanted to scream. Does HIS womans wear collection represent who he is as a woman?

And for the orange suit. I liked it. Who would wear it? Well if given the choice between a orange quilted suit and a purple leather aviators outfit with goggles I think the suit would win.

Unless of course you like the Amelia Earhart goes urban look.
Anonymous

What you forgot to mention about the outfit Martinique was in was how it SERIOUSLY NEEDED A BRA!

I’m a girl… I notice that stuff.

If you don’t remember, just watch it again and watch those puppies flop about. It’s hard to notice when you know the boobies coming up though.

Much love,
The Maljax
Anonymous

I spend about 1/3 of my time in the DC area. The other 2/3s in Northern Wisconsin.

I get where Wendy is coming from, having lived near her world for a good part of my life. I can now only wish that any one of her pedestrian outfits could find a place in the area where I spend most of my time. I’d love to dress up more than once or twice a year. And by “dressing up” I mean wearing something other than a great new sweater.

Is she the next great designer? Of course not. Is there a market for her work? Absolutely.

- Barnaby
Anonymous

i hated how on the 1st outfit the models book was try to escape that hoerrible top and bunching in the crothch

2nd look: the jacket was oversized and didnt fit – the flower necklace was SOO angela kesler and the pants look like the ones in the 1st look

3rd look: ok but nothin special but the trim looks like a dead green ferret

4th look: nice dress the bust looks kind of like the grammy challenge and you can see in the pic below that the sleeves werent staying on

5th look: ewwwwwww (the model looks liek the host of top chef)

6th look: ok but i dont know who whould wear it and the buttons look bigger than half dollars
Claudia

You can tell the pieces are well made but there’s nothing creative or innovative about them. Yes, there is a market for them as someone pointed out earlier, but that’s not the point of the show.
Jake

I suspect that Wendy is pretty good at what she does, or at least at what she did before PR got into her head. I remember seeing her portfolio — the one she used for her business at home, prior to PR — and it had slightly tacky but basically pretty designs in it.

My theory is that Wendy goes wrong when she tries to design clothes that she *thinks* are hip, rather than just doing what she does best. I remember Jay saying, “She just has no clue!” And that’s true: when she tries to meet the judges’ demand of designing work that’s “youthful” or “innovative,” she’s like an American learning to speak Mandarin Chinese: ineptly imitative and tone deaf.
Anonymous

There were several pieces in Wendy’s collection that I would totally wear…but none of them were in this half. ‘Nuff said.
Lisette

Her stuff was more RTW than “Designer!” like a good bridge line.
That is damning praise! She is a decent dressmaker, the next great American designer, umm, no.
Gorgeous Things

Croc satin isn’t a good look on anyone. And I thought the whole collection just looked matronly.
Young offender

“How do you edit an orange quilted satin suit?”

–Burn it. Burn it alive.

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Ripping the Collections: Wendy, Part One

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