Bravo’s Launch My Line Gives Project Runway A Run For Its Money

We were skeptical about the premise behind Bravo’s new fashion reality show, “Launch My Line.” Hosted by the design duo DSquared2, ten professionals–a music executive, a DJ, an arcitect and two fashion critics (the self-described “dandy” Patrick McDonald and formidable Merle Ginsberg)–along with five others, compete  to get their own fashion line, er, launched. They’ll “sew, stitch and cut their way to the top”  for the chance to sell their line in stores. The catch is that none of the contestants can actually sew. Awesome, right?

The first episode, surprisingly, was entertaining: the most drama occurred between the contestants and their “huffy puffy” (as Patrick McDonald says) fashion expert partners who no doubt were frustrated having to pick up the design slack during the challenge. The first challenge was to design a signature piece. We liked L. Marilyn Crawford’s idea–as a marketing executive targeting successful working women, her look, below, was a cowl neck hooded blouse that can go from day to night, paired with a khaki pencil skirt, below.

This was chosen as the favorite of the audience watching the fashion show–and we have to agree, it was the most wearable, and work-friendly. We’ll be tuning in for more.

Here, we found a similar look you can shop now–Spiegel’s Tie Neck silk blouse $54 (marked down from $64) will stand out just enough at your next board meeting and Gap’s Fatigue Khaki skirt ($49.50) gets a lot of mileage for the money.

For more ideas on what to wear to work, check out our guides to blazers, and pencil skirts.