Peace, Love, and Happiness for Michelle Lateste
The Art Institute’s Next Project Runway Star
Posted by: Laura Cassidy on Mar 16, 2009 at 01:00PM
7 Comments
Who knows if Project Runway will ever again claim your Wednesday nights (or Thursday or whenever); you’ve been watching, and waiting, and waiting and watching, for something to happen, I know. Let’s just hope it doesn’t become, as producer Harvey Weinstein suggested, a radio broadcast. (Yeah, I want to hear designers conceptualize an outfit based on the Honda Fit.) However, if a team of producers comes through town to interview potential guinea pigs for another season, they’ll want to make time to see Michelle Lateste.
Lateste scooped her Art Institute classmates at last Thursday’s Peace, Love, and Happiness runway show at Showbox Sodo by winning two awards. Her collection of peachy-cream and mauve, draped and/or highly structured mini-skirts and barely-there tops earned her the “Next Project Runway Star” award, and a elegantly bubble-hemmed, floor-length, tastefully embellished - if a little literal - Peacock Dress took home “Best Couture Garment.”
Now, it’s only fair of me to say that one of the looks Lateste sent down the runway was a direct homage to Leanne Marshall, the (at the time) Portland-based PR winner from last season. “A direct homage” might be slightly generous. The many-petaled skirt could not have been more influenced by Leanne’s own wavy, prism-like, geometric skirt and indeed it must have been a straight-forward attempt to try out some of Leanne’s techniques. I didn’t get the chance to ask her, but I can only assume that if she entered the look in her school show, she knew everyone would draw the same conclusion and she was okay with that. I think, and my fellow judges agreed (among them Seattle Models Guild booker Andrew Burkhardt and Gisella from Ragamoffyn’s), that the bottom line is: She’s a student, and she did a beautiful job imitating a complicated idea, and an equally beautiful job creating complementary and complex looks to go along with it. Even from our front-row perch, the other judges and I could tell that her garments were very well-made, and each had its own idea—it’s own little blend of flounce and architecture.
So maybe Leanne needs to keep an eye on Lateste. Maybe she needs to hire her. Either way, we’ll be watching her too.
(Photos here by Mark Best for the Art Institute.)
even though it’s an obv direct “translation” of leanne’s PR-winning design, i still love the colors Lateste chose. very cute. the peacock dress is interesting. i looks almost heavy at the bottom. how did it move?
Heavy… no, I don’t remember feeling that the hem was overly or particularly weighted. If anything, the length might not have been perfect (a hair short), but overall it moved really well. The model didn’t have to fuss with it or pick it up in order to not trip. It felt dramatic but not too dramatic. And really, especially in the context of student work, it was imaginative but still very pretty. Felt like something young Hollywood would take to the MTV awards or similar, to stand out and evoke fairy tales, dreams, Japanimation, nature, and youth…while still bringing a designer edge and style-forward elegance.
very cool. it’s difficult to tell the texture and weight of the fabric from the pics. i love the last detail shot….you’re right, very japanimation/mtv/fantasy. the eye of the peacock feather on the shoulder reminds me of the old blue flame from the seattle natural gas building!
Hello anonymous commenter: yes, I provided a link, within the text here, to Leanne wearing the very skirt that Michelle copied. She was very obviously trying out the PR star’s techniques, but thanks for the Flickr evidence nonetheless. I know I’ve already explained why the other judges and I felt like Michelle deserved the award — I think if you could see the other pieces in her collection you would agree that Leanne’s style was a departure point, a place to take-off from. It’s too bad I don’t have access to more images from the show. I think I’ll also point out that student shows are not just about creativity — technical skill plays a big role as well. And all in all, with all due respect to AI, we’re not talking about Central Saint Martins here. Students need to start somewhere, and copycatting and all, I think Michelle is starting from a pretty interesting – and interested – place.