In the hit Bravo show, Project Runway, aspiring designers are asked to think outside their realm of what one would think of as normal fashion, and instead be resourceful and challenge themselves to new ideas and concepts. Project Runway is now in it’s 6^th season, but the demands being asked of the designers are still just as challenging. The designers have been asked to make clothing out of anything from basic fabric to garbage, and some very interesting variations in between. Although some may say that being told to make something out of garbage or grocery store supplies may not seem to be what a designer would be inspired to create, this applied inspiration has created some unusually beautiful end products.

In Season 1, the designers were asked to create a dress out of items they picked up in a floral market. The challenge was to make a dress that was unique yet beautiful. As the designers began to work they struggled with working within their constraints in their budget, and the limited materials, as well as a foreign material that they had never used before. While some simply threw together some leaves with a needle and thread, others forced themselves to think outside the box and crate something that was really beautiful and really wearable.

The winner of the challenge was the designer Daniel who not only thought about what would be pretty, but what would also be practical and at the same time aesthetic. He showed the judges that he could work outside of his comfort zone, and be inspired by new material, and he did something no other person had done.

Often times it seems boundaries keep an artist from creating something new, and the only product which results is no doubt innovative, but not new. When one finds inspiration outside of oneself, the options are limitless creating a whole new realm of possibilities.

The Winning Dress(top left):

http://www.daytondailynews.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/realitytv/media/pic_eps_rate_daniel_v_ep9.jpg