Katy's Take: The Finale

We were thrilled to finally meet Katherine Gerdes in person at the OFW show in Bryant Park last month. She is as sweet and genuine as you imagine. And opiniated! Katy has been providing her exclusive take on Season 3 for from a designer's perspective and checks in this week with her review of the Final four collections:

Jeffrey (WINNER): As I’m sure most of you know, I was not the biggest Jeffrey fan throughout the show, so I was surprised to think this at OFW, but Jeffrey’s collection was one of my favorites! After seeing all four collections, I’ll be honest and say that I was rooting for Uli (more on that later), but Jeffrey winning was well deserved. While there were a few pieces in his collection that I don’t think fit in at all (blue dresses), his designs were the most innovative and had the freshest point of view. I think he really took to heart the judges criticisms during the show about how he should be able to mix elegant and sophisticated into his grungy, rock and roll look. His collection showcased that mixture perfectly, and like the judges said, he really showed a whole “lifestyle” of clothing for his woman, not just a day look or evening look. It was hard for me to pick a favorite look from his collection. I absolutely loved his first red polka dot dress and of course his final green dress was stunning and the striped fabric was completely unexpected for a cocktail dress (very similar to his use of plaid for a couture dress), but I think I’m going with his second to last look (green striped blazer) as my favorite.

I think this look perfectly pulls together his rock and roll aesthetic while at the same time being very put together. It also manages to be casual and elegant all at the same time. Although personally I’m not a fan of skinny pants, I think those white leather pants are fantastic and really like the patches of distressing (or whatever it is he did to them). I love the mixture of the green striped blazer (which could look really preppy) with the zipper details and the silver tank. I also really like the way he used the striped fabric for a blazer in one outfit and then moved seamlessly to using it in an evening dress. All in all I thought this outfit really brought together what he was attempting to do with the collection.

My least favorite of Jeffrey’s was that blue and silver dress. It was just awful and didn’t fit that model well at all. Her chest looked enormous and it didn’t fit with the collection. I also think even had it fit well, he would have been in trouble with it, because it’s a natural reaction to compare it to Uli’s dresses; there really is no comparison there. Although I did really like the print on this dress and think it fit with his inspiration well.

Click here to continue reading Katy's Take as she gives us her hits and misses from Uli, Laura and Michael.