Well, I was sick for one (could you tell?). There was no way of getting better with the 4 hours of sleep we were getting every night, and we only had 2 hours the night before this particular challenge. I was also losing inspiration fast - something that started to happen in the last “real woman” challenge. 

Being uninspired is like death for me and the fatigue of working in a factory atmosphere under fluorescent lights was starting to set in. I was hoping that the challenges would become more inspiring so I could really show people what I was capable of as a designer. Unfortunately, a lot of my inspiration comes from developing innovative materials — and there was no time for that!

So this week’s challenge was to design a look inspired by a high school clique. Mine was B-Girl. A what?!  Ha, well, thank you for all those who sympathized and told me they didn’t know what a B-Girl was either.  I knew what B-Boys looked like, but B-Girls have a less defined look so it was hard to visualize exactly what a typical one would look like. Someone just sent me this pic of a real b-girl crew, Beat Freaks, and apparently I wasn’t that far off.

B-Girl to me is a more specific sub-culture (80’s, break-dancing, DayGlo colors) than the much larger hip hop genre the judges chose to focus on. It is a subtle, but very important, distinction that a lot of you viewers picked up on. (Thank you!) Had I been given hip-hop as a clique to focus on, you can bet my design would have been very different. 

More of my thoughts on the challenge can be read here on my Bravo blog. It was written the day after filming (many months ago) and focuses on the importance of research in my design process. 

As for the things that inspire me: traveling to experience different cultures, thinking about future lifestyles, new technology, and developing innovative materials. I also work directly with textile mills to create the latest fabrics on the market and experiment with different embroidery, pleating, printing, and dyeing techniques. 

Innovation and creativity requires time and patience during the design process. Twelve hours is very little time to show the potential of what a designer can do. I hope the show at least showed a sliver of what I am capable of in the real world.

Thank you all for watching me these past five weeks! I am grateful that Bravo believed in me as a designer and provided a stage for me to show you my work. I learned a lot by being part of the show, and it truly was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. I will continue to design for my own collection and hope you will continue to follow me here on my site!

I made it using my own body as a stamp. What do you think? Buy yours here!

Perhaps it is because the industry pushes images of the rail-thin air-brushed models in fashion magazines and on the runway. Those fantasy images are meant to inspire, not necessarily to be replicated in real life, and the press always chooses to promote the most outlandish designs from any designer’s collection.  Those brand-driven pieces rarely make it into stores and, consequently, are not expected to be worn by the public. What people actually buy in designer retailers is very different (conservative, even boring) compared to what we see on the runway. Yet even with my craziest designs, I am always thinking about the real woman. 

I often describe the woman I design for as a globe-hopping arbiter of taste and culture. She’s chic; she’s glam; she  knows exactly what she wants and is not afraid to pursue it. She travels the world for work and for play and needs a versatile wardrobe to match her fast-paced lifestyle.

Sunny

Oksana

My daily sources of inspiration are my friends Sunny and Oksana who have exquisite style and taste. I am always asking them about their preferences and how they like their clothes to fit. Sunny is a painter and always wears 4-inch heels at night. Oksana has a baby, speaks Russian, and used to work at Louis Vuitton. They are both very chic. 

Even my wildest vision for an ideal woman/muse exists in the real world. Her name is Pearl Lam, and she is an amazing art dealer living between Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London. She is spearheading the new wave of art/design collecting in China and is a visionary in her field. She adores fashion and is a couture client of Alaia, Givenchy, and Gaultier. I met her when she invited me to her home for dinner in January, and I was totally smitten! 

We are realizing during the current recession that there is a disconnect between what fashion brands feed into the market and what consumers actually want to buy. Karl Lagerfeld mentioned (during last fall’s FGI Night of Stars) that fashion is what we see women wearing on the street — not what we see on red-carpet celebrities.  We should be catering to these real women on the street, and we designers already know this.

That’s why I’m a bit annoyed by the “Real Woman” challenge from this week’s The Fashion Show. It’s as if saying we fashion designers don’t design for real women — we do!!  It just happens that one designer may design couture suits for Upper East Side ladies who lunch while another designs cheap mix-and-match pieces for Forever 21. One designer could not possibly cater to every body shape and personality out there. There are so many different kind of designers out there, and consumers must also do their part in researching which ones fit their shape the best.

I always design around a woman’s personality (not her body type), and I think a woman can pull off anything so long as her personality matches what she is wearing. The more I know about an individual, the more I am inspired to design a look for her. And I always need a stream of inspiration, otherwise I just check out mentally.  

This challenge was just not inspiring for me, so I have asked my Facebook and Twitter fans to suggest some drinking games to help me cope with my performance tonight.  Here are some of my faves:

“One shot every time Issac says ‘darling’” (from ACunderwear)

“Two shots every time Isaac makes this face…”  http://tinyurl.com/osdbma   (from jesicamilton)

“One shot every time Kelly makes a redundant statement. Take two when she copies exactly what Isaac says.” (from alittletrendy)

“When Kelly makes a bitchy comment or face.” (from whatvinyldummy) 

“One sip of every snotty look Daniella makes. No more than a sip though, otherwise you will be falling down drunk.”  (from Patricia Burkey) 

“Take a sip every time Merlin says “Bitch,” then stand up and run around in circles like a maniac for 1 minute.”   (from Helly Aranigo)  

“Take a drink every time Reco rolls his eyes.” (from MilaXX)

“Take a shot every time there’s a bitchy comment!”  (from Parmie)

Many of you have asked me where to buy my white siamese twin shirt dress after seeing it on this week’s episode of The Fashion Show.  (Because it was not the winning design, it is not available for sale on Bravotv.com)  

Given the great amount of interest from all of you fabulously chic viewers, I am happy to announce that I am now selling the dress here on my website!

If you have any problems, feel free to contact me at info@angelchang.com

Thank you for all your support and see you on the next episode of The Fashion Show!  

- Angel

The design consists of two classic cotton button-down shirts sewn at the hem and worn as a dress. The top shirt has a zig-zag and circular yoke detail; the bottom shirt is bigger with a periwinkle satin yoke. The shirt can be worn as 1) a dress, 2) upside-down as another dress, and 3) as two shirts layered on top of each other a la Pretty in Pink.  I had envisioned reversible cuffs and collars for the shirts and a zipper to separate them (so they could be worn solo) had we been given more time. 

I normally feel like my ideas and concepts are too forward for most people outside of the fashion community to accept. With this siamese twin shirt dress, however, I felt that my design concepts were finally being understood by the public.  I was able to make something commercially viable while still maintaining my design integrity.  It was a perfect balance of commercialism and design innovation!

To be able to produce something exactly as I had originally envisioned it, AND to be commended by a public audience…that was the greatest achievement for me as a designer.  It is a great affirmation of what I have been developing in my own womenswear label. 

This flipable, convertible dress idea is actually a concept that I’ve been developing for the last year.  This trench coat from my Spring 2008 collection was designed to be worn as a skirt as well.  

This cotton shirt dress from Fall 2008 has a removable scarf and flaps that unhook and turn into sleeves when worn upside-down.  It can be worn 3 different ways.  Oh yes, and the print colors change when pressed against a warm body to give shades of yellow, turquoise, and deep green. 

Many of you have asked me where to buy my white siamese twin shirt dress after seeing it on this week’s episode.  (Because it was not the winning design, it is not available for sale on Bravotv.com)  

Given the great amount of interest, I am happy to announce that I will re-make the white shirt dress and sell it here on my website!

Thank you all for your tremendous support!

This gorgeous design was created by the visionary Chris Bangle, former head of design at BMW.