I may be the only person in America who likes Kenley and hopes she does well in Project Runway. When she talks back and they all exclaim about her attitude, I shout at the television and say “What about Santino, what about Jeffrey? Aren’t women allowed to defend their work, too?”  But, I really had to disagree with her argument last week, She said people want a show and classic doesn’t make a show.  Wrong!  That’s simply because she hasn’t seen Gracie Winnfield’s designs. Gracie does classic with an edge.

Take Ralph for example. Inspired by Ralph Lauren (and how refreshing that she does not pretend every design was birth fully formed from her forehead) this gown has classic lines and shapes. The color palette is as classic as they come. Yet the combination of shape, color and textile design is new, fresh and edgy.Using bold textures and strong fabrics in this soft feminine silhouette demonstrates her bold approach to design.

Gracie is also the Queen of prim movement. The movement of flexi prims is controlled by various settings like softness, gravity, drag, wind and tension. Through a skillful manipulation of these settings, the designer can determine who the prims will move. It’s tricky. I tried making a bed spread and a little jiggle would turn a flexi from a limp dishrag into a a flag in a wind tunnel. In short my bedspread was a hot mess. Gracie, on the other hand, will set her prims so they float. When you spin in this dress you can imagine little dragonflies and bees holding up the hem.

Here again, you can see the slow settling skirt prims. Maybe if you look really, really close you can see the dragonflies holding up the hem. In another note on the quality of construction, take a close look at the first and second photos where you can see the seam matching on the side of the gown. Look at the natural flow of the prim skirt and how well it blends into the system pieces.

The gloves are from Fleur – the grey ones which I tinted by just hitting the red preset.Cailyn’s Wooden Jewelry set seems to have been made for this dress as do the Park West shoes you get a small glimpse of in picture 3.

Oh yes, it moves so beautifully. Gracie has reopened at a new location on her own sim with a new fall collection in the store. She has her famed bridal store, and a casual and formal store. In addition, there’s a bargain alley with much of her older designs and lots of freebies. The official opening is October 15th when there will be runway shows and the normal sim-opening brouhaha and fun – but, understanding the impatience of fashionistas (being one) the sim is open now and the fall collection, of which this is a part, is on the shelves.

Photography by Cajsa Lilliehook MDR Photo Studio
****STYLE NOTES******

• Skin: blowpop Mellie 3 Caramale gourmade
• Eyes: IC-Eyes Soulful Hazel
• Lashes: CyberNetic
• Gloves: Fleur (gray tinted RGB 209,0,0)
• Hair:Tami McCoy Hope
• Shoes: Park WEst Selene pumps
• gown: Gracie Ralph
• Jewelry: Cailyn’s Wooden Set