Fashion Review

No 4-H clothing project is complete without the fashion review competition. This is where you model your clothing project, followed by an interview with the judges, and then the award of a trophy if you are among the best. (I have to say, I liked it better in MY day, when you got a ribbon for modeling, and then the judges chose a Grand Champion Fashion Review, and a Reserve Champion Fashion Review. FYI, I do have BOTH of those trophies, ...., which is probably why I like it.)

Since Lauren had two outfits, she got to model twice. First up was the dress she made.

Here we are "poppin" a pose.

Just look at that smile, she sparkled on stage!

And here she is in the interview.

I could not hear the questions, but I could tell she was doing really well. Her face lit up as she talked, and she was actually answering the questions as opposed to other kids that just kind of look lost and answered yes, no, or I don't know. (We had practiced our interview skills. Lauren would really like to do pageants when she is a teenager, so I told her this interview was good practice for the pageant interviews.)

Next, it was a quick change and she modeled with Katie in their matching leopard print dresses.

Yep, that one had an interview too. In this photo she is showing the judges the trim on her dress.

They asked about how she made the flower and she promptly started talking about polyester fabric, cutting out circles, and melting the edges.

Then Lauren had to change AGAIN, back into her dress, so the judges could have a final look at all the fashion review candidates. (Last year it was a mad dash between the stage and the bathroom for outfit changes. We got smart this year and Lauren wore a tank top and her dance biker shorts so we could just change in our "staging" area in the audience.)

Now the way this works is Lauren got judged two times, once for her dress, and once for the outfit she decorated. They have all the kids model in one big group interspersed with both the fashion review clothing and the decorate your duds clothing, so Lauren was not the only one changing outfits.

Ok, now here is where the story get interesting or rather a little dicey....About half way through the competition I looked over at the judges for fashion review and noticed that one of the original judges, who initially judged Lauren had been replaced by a different judge. It was about that time that they called Lauren and about 8 other girls back to model. (This was before the final look at all the girls) So Lauren modeled AGAIN, and had a second interview AGAIN.

Then we waited.....finally they were ready to announce the results of fashion review and decorate your duds. They started with fashion review. They were awarding trophies to whom they deemed to be the top contestants. As the list was called Lauren and I patiently waited for her name to be called. It was not called. I was stunned. About 12 girls received trophies.

Then they announced the decorate your duds winners and the group has about 6 kids and Lauren received a trophy. As you can see from the smile on her face she was very happy, I was still upset. (Can you say stage mother?)

So after awards the kids received their judging sheets. I was anxious to get my hands on the sheet to see what had happened and why she was DENIED.

This was her judging sheet. You can see from the marks that she earned an excellent in nearly every category. (Oh yeah, that is steam escaping from my ears....) So my inner Hertha came out and Lauren and I promptly marched ourselves over the the judges table. (I really do need come with a warning label....) I approached the judges and said "This was my daughter's first year being judged modeling, and she didn't get a trophy, and I was just wonder what suggestions you might have so that she can improve for next year." I do believe I caught them off guard. They asked to see her judging sheet, which I handed over, and the stammering began. I mean really, when you give those kinds of scores, and then don't give a trophy, you had better have a GOOD reason. The decorate your duds judges were right next to the fashion review judges, and said "She got a trophy for decorate your duds, didn't she?" I said yes, but I was just curious about fashion review and what we could do to improve. Meanwhile the lead judge for fashion review is struggling to come up with a story. She said that she needed more accessories and the girls that received trophies had accessorized more. (NOT true, besides with the pattern of Lauren's dress an accessories would be too much, and would take away from the outfit.) Finally the lead judge admitted to me that they "cheated" and that they looked to see which girls were getting awards for decorate your duds and if they were receiving an award for decorate your duds they didn't give them one for fashion review because they wanted everyone to get a trophy.

Grrrr......grumble, grumble, grumble......NOT happy. Here is my beef. If the county 4-H wants everyone to get a trophy, then give everyone who participates a trophy, OR allow kids who earn trophies in two categories to have two trophies, and let it to be the competition that I was told it would be. Might be writing a letter......probably need to cool off first.