The Fashion Fund: Episode 5

[Narrator] Welcome to the CFDA

Replica Handbag Store Fashion Fund Challenge.

The fashion funders have been put to task by the

American sports wear company Ann Taylor,

to create a look for the modern professional woman.

Let's check in with the fashion funders

to see how their work measures up.

(upbeat drumming music)

Ann Taylor, throughout its history,

has always been known for a fashion

point of view on what a woman

could and should wear as she built her career.

So, when we went to build our design challenge,

we really wanted to talk about that heritage

and make it relevant for today.

So the challenge was about designing

an outfit for the modern professional woman.

Some kind of look that took into

account your own design aesthetic.

For me, that was pretty interesting because

I think that the Ann Taylor customer is somebody

that I don't necessarily know that much about.

She wants to be strong, she wants to be elegant,

and she wants to be beautiful.

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So we started thinking about

fabrics that we would use for the modern professional woman.

Something that would transition from day into evening.

I started thinking about the heritage

of the Ann Taylor woman, where did she come from?

How has she evolved?

How is she relevant today?

The Ann Taylor look that I designed

will be revealed at a cocktail party.

And the idea is to show up there

and show the outfit to all the judges.

I just wanna go there, present it,

and, you know, have a good time.

The designs will be revealed at an event

where each of the designers will have a muse

wearing his or her design, women who are smart,

interesting, dynamic, and also managing

to look incredibly impeccable, and doing it all in style.

Tonight I'm just looking forward to getting to know

the judges better and spend more time with each of them.

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Everyone here is people I admire

and really appreciate their careers and what they've done.

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So my date tonight is Britt Maren,

and she's wearing a look comprised of four

sort of iconic career wear pieces,

we have the trench coat, we have the dress shirt,

we have the v neck sweater, and black pants.

I just thought it was very American,

it was very classic, it was very timeless,

and all the design details here, I think, makes it, like,

literally an interesting point of view.

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The work place could be anything in this day and age,

and I didn't want to strictly think in corporate terms.

A woman with a career could be an artist,

or a philanthropist, or just about anything,

so I wanted to just do something that was wonderful,

which I could, with pleasure, imagine a woman wearing.

(upbeat music)

This whole thing's surreal in so many ways,

I'm just enjoying the ride, really.

(upbeat music)