For those of you lucky American Express cardholders who fell in love with Leanne’s sumptous plum gown it can now be yours for $650. Take a look at her DVF dress in all it’s glory and buy it here!

Bid here to get the orignal design made by Leanne as well as the pieces from all the designers.

We love when the designers go on field trips. Every time Tim surprises them, or Heidi announces they are to meet outside the workroom for their challenge we prepare for a big adventure. So when Tim announced they were to design for a “Fashion Icon“, we knew this was going to be exciting. When Blayne automatically thought the icon was Mary-Kate Olsen we were at first shocked and then on the floor in stitches. Was the thought wild? Yes. But we expect nothing less from him. Our favorite line from him has to be when he announced “I want to marry Mary-Kate!”

Terri, who always has the best one liners, said it best when they showed up at their destination and she said ” We arrived at this beautiful showroom, and we were like ‘What? What’s goin’ on!’ I mean it’s Project Runway anything could happen.”

Judging from the looks on the designers faces when Diane von Furstenberg was introduced as the icon and the challenge was given, we knew they were looking forward to getting to work. Poor Kenley was overwhelmed and cried so many times from a mixture of excitement and worry that we weren’t sure she was going to be able to sew without exploding. We must admit we understand her feelings. Let’s face it, Diane von Furstenberg is an established  American designer who changed the face of fashion with a design so revolutionary and yet so classic that it has remained a staple in generations of women’s closets for 30+ years! Let’s not even discuss what she has done as President of the CFDA. The pressure was on!

From the very beginning it was clear that this challenge was going to be a struggle for both Stella and Blayne.  For Stella, this task and DVF’s aesthetic was so out of her point of view as designer that she was going to have to push herself to the limits, and for Blayne this challenge did not give enough wiggle room for him to  be quirky. On the flip side, we automatically knew Korto and Leanne would be front-runners given their penchant for sophisticated well-constructed pieces.

How Blayne flew under the radar and did not go into the final three we will never know. His cropped pants were a mystery to us, and certainly are not part of DVF’s aesthetic or a look we saw in her Look Book. Like Diane we didn’t like the rear view of Joe’s look either however, we were taken aback by the harsh criticism he received on the runway.  Stella’s look wasn’t spectacular but we were pleasantly surprised she stepped outside of her box and created a more polished look. Her execution on the construction and the crooked cape were her downfall. Had she kept it simple and maybe nixed the cape she might still be on the runway. Lastly, we thought  Suede’s gown looked okay but the vest was awkward and did nothing for the look.

As for the top three we thought Korto’s gown was glamorous and exactly what we expected of her. It looked pulled together and had great movement. We found Leanne’s exquisite gown perfectly channeled both the Old Hollywood glamour of A Foreign Affair and DVF’s Collection.  We agree with the judges that she did a great job of mixing  the soft feminine look of the gown with the hard masculine edge of the coat.

Finally, there was Kenley. We can hardly talk about her dress because we can’t believe her attitude on the runway! Not only did she cut Heidi off when she was giving Kenley her critique but she shunned all criticism from everyone and sassed Diane von Furstenberg saying she thought she needed color in her collection. Whew! As far as her dress we thought it was nice but we didn’t think it deserved to be in the top three. Like Heidi we saw it as a well constructed but simple dress.

Ultimately, Stella went home and Leanne was the winner again.  Her look will be on a special site for American Express cardholders and a portion of the proceeds will go to the CFDA Foundation.

We really enjoyed this challenge and are biting our fingernails until next week. As always bid now-and own a piece of the runway.