Carol Hannology

Hit it, CH!

If you're new, this is the part of each season where we look at the output of each finalist to see if we can divine themes or weaknesses. First up is Alex's favorite designer, Carol Hannah Whitfield.

There's a point we want to make when we wrap these ologies up, but we want to touch on it here because it's relevant to Carol Hannah's work. It's this: she has a somewhat weak vision as a designer. Can you sum up her aesthetic in a couple of words? We can't. That's not to say that there aren't themes and motifs here. First, let's talk about what she doesn't do: pants, sleeves and prints. Oh sure, there's one of each in her entries, but for the most part, she went to the "sleeveless dress" well a couple of times too many. In terms of color, she appears to be drawn to blues, golds and blacks, for the most part. In terms of design elements, she clearly likes to manipulate fabric through twisting, draping, and pleating. There aren't any looks that we could classify as "clean" or "simple" except for #7, and that one stands out like a sore thumb next to all her other looks.

If we had to sum up her flaws, we'd say that she tends to overwork her looks and she occasionally (not always, but occasionally) demonstrates an inability to consider the body wearing the clothes. She'll put these sashes or exposed seams or layered hems in odd and unflattering places. It's like she's so caught up in her techniques that she's losing sight of the woman wearing her pieces.

If we had to sum up her strengths, we'd say one word: unexpected. She does very feminine clothes, but they almost always have a twist to them (oftentimes literally). If she learns how to develop that skill and marry it to wearability, she could really make something of herself.

[Images: myLifetime.com]

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