Runway Monday All Stars: Bitten by the Fashion Bug

On the most recent episode of Project Runway All Stars, at the American Museum of Natural History, arachnids and insects served as inspiration for the designers to create an avant-garde look. Since the PR van forgot to pick me up for the museum trip, I decided to use an insect from my Alabama childhood. Romalea microptera and Romalea guttata grasshoppers actually serve as my inspiration for the beginning of a novel I’ve worked on for a couple of years. They can’t fly and aren’t good jumpers, so you mostly see them crawling over the grass. Growing from three to four inches in length, they are impossible to miss.

I chose Lagoona Blue as my model because her yellow hair reminded me of the grasshopper’s stripe.


Using antennae as sleeves.

A peek at the Mattel shoes.

That’s how a little monster does avant-garde. See you next time on the runway!

Previous looks from this season:

Week 1: You Got Punked

16 thoughts on “Runway Monday All Stars: Bitten by the Fashion Bug”

  1. very good, but is that black tinsel? Did you know about this before Halloween? Do you have a mole in at Allstars?

    Also what is with Jeffrey and the farmers hat ? I love that he explained avante garde to Isaac. I think Isaac is a bit of a chump — but I am liking the blond girl more.

    1. A ticklish situation, I like the colors, but not the material. There are quite a few grasshoppers around here, though there are no black ones. I usually find them in areas where there is no grass.

        1. I agree with the goth effect, but I just can’t imagine the agony of wearing it or those sitting next to it on the bus. Like I said, a ticklish situation :). At least it wasn’t made of evergreen branches.

  2. Definitely more Avant-garde than some of the designers on the show. That is never my favorite challenge, but looks like you had fun with it. Your antennae as sleeves look much better than Melissa’s attempt to recreate the spider legs as shoulder straps. Poor Daniel…his look wasn’t his best work, but I thought for sure Jeffery’s “bondage mask/Christmas Story leg lamp” look would go.

    1. It’s not my favorite challenge to do, because I’m not really a designer so avant-garde is beyond my ability. I wouldn’t have minded doing a literal interpretation of the grasshopper.

      I’d have been fine with a double elimination this week!

  3. well… i was going to paste a picture from a visit to my sister’s house. I have never known these grasshoppers to be any where but AL…

    1. Apparently they are elsewhere in the South. I’d tell you something I read about them, but it’s going in a novel. I don’t just give this stuff away for free. 😉

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