Project Runway Ep 2 + Q&A with Dylan Lauren

Tim Gunn and Dylan Lauren

Designers met up at Dylan's Candy Bar to discover that their second challenge was to create a look using $500 worth of candy. Got to love another unconventional challenge!

They raced & dashed around shoving candies into bags, scrambling to find materials; a few snacked on some sweets, and who knows what else...

There were a lot of creative pieces sent down the runway, even though candy dropped from some of the looks. As you know my favorite color is turquoise/blue so I loved the use of turquoise in some of the designs.

Sonjia William's design

Love the ocean/sea vibe going on, especially with the gummy sharks filling in the neckline. But I also loved the use of the rock candy, and it worked out pretty well for week 1 winner Christopher Palu.

Christopher Palu's design

And worked amazingly well on Ven Budhu's design, which was my favorite of the night. It was the judges' favorite too and he's the winner of this week's challenge!

Ven Budhu's design

Unfortunately, Lantie Foster ended up going home for a look that was practically made out of other materials than candy.

Lantie Foster's design

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This week's Q&A is with Dylan Lauren (daughter of designer Ralph Lauren and guest judge).

Q: Can you tell us a bit about this week's challenge?
Dylan: It's an unconventional challenge and it's using a unique medium for the show. There's so many colors, textures.. it was a new concept.

Q: How did you get involved?
Dylan: I was approached from Project Runway. They wanted a new medium to do, to work with. Dylan's Candy Bar is the biggest candy store and it worked perfectly. They thought I'd be a good judge.

Q: What makes candy an interesting thing to work with in terms of fashion?
Dylan: Candy has so many gradients, patterns, shapes, textures - some are opaque, some are see-thru. They're long and gummy, and there are just so many choices. Together they can form these amazing designs. It can take an art form.

Q: What do you think were some of the challenges the designers had to face this week?
Dylan: Well, people want to eat it, haha. And also it was the weight of the candy.  Also, the heat can melt the candy. It was a challenging medium.

Q: Was there a certain usage of the candy that really surprised you?
Dylan: I think it was that they chose not to use more than one type of candy or one color. I was really surprised by that. A lot of the designers were choosing small candies and I don't think they realized how much surface they had to cover with all the small candies. That was concerning. I wanted to tell them "don't get the many little things!"

Q: Have you ever turned candy into something else?
Dylan: I like candy art. I do a lot of mosaics. We work with children using candy and do artwork like that. It's a way of merging fashion art in pop culture.

Q: Do you think that has a practical purpose?
Dylan: Well you can use Shellac to preserve it and you can stand out from the crowd!

Q: What would you have liked to see on the runway?
Dylan: I would've wanted to see the giant lollipops being used. They're fun and colorful. I also would've loved to see a real gown with a train. I was hoping to see a real couture gown, but I was really impressed with these designers. They changed the texture, and combined different candies. It was very unique.

Q: What's your favorite fashion trend now?
Dylan: I love color -- the bright color blocking that's going on right now. I like neon too. But I don't like the one color nail polish on 2 or 3 fingers and another one the other fingers.

Q: Which candy would you have used?
Dylan: I couldn't even decide. I would've used one of everything: whirlypops, translucent gummies with all of the colors -- I would've hit that section.

Q: Who do you think will end up in the final?
Dylan: Some one that really rose to the occasion and really stepped up to the challenge.

[I am part of the Project Runway fashion blogger network, and therefore I get access to interviews, images, and video clips. You can watch Project Runway on Lifetime on Thursdays at 9/8c]

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