Olsenhaus’ Cameo on ‘The Fashion Show’

Footwear designer Elizabeth Olsen of Olsenhaus made a guest appearance on the fourth episode of Bravo TV’s new reality series “The Fashion Show,” posing the weekly Harper’s Bazaar Mini Challenge and putting the apparel-focused contestants to a real test: designing an eco-friendly shoe using only vegan materials—a trademark of Olsen’s line. “It was a total hoot,” she says of the taping experience.

Footwear designer Elizabeth Olsen of Olsenhaus made a guest appearance on the fourth episode of Bravo TV’s new reality series “The Fashion Show,” posing the weekly Harper’s Bazaar Mini Challenge and putting the apparel-focused contestants to a real test: designing an eco-friendly shoe using only vegan materials—a trademark of Olsen’s line. “It was a total hoot,” she says of the taping experience.

The designers struggled a bit with cobbling technique and filtering current trends into footwear sans animal products, but ultimately Olsen chose Johnny R. as the winner for his ruffled wedge. “I’m truthfully not really familiar with eco-friendly or eco-safe products, so this challenge was very foreign to me,” Johnny confessed in his post-show Bravo TV blog. “I just wanted to do something fairly simple that my friends would want to wear.” His winning design will be produced and sold on BravoTV.com, with proceeds going to Farm Sanctuary, an organization working to end cruelty to farm animals.

The shoe theme continued throughout the episode, with hosts Isaac Mizrahi and Kelly Rowland escorting the competitors to Bergdorf’s shoe salon, where they raced to select a designer style to inspire an outfit. Guest judge George Malkemus, president of Manolo Blahnik USA, joined Mizrahi, Rowland and panel regular Fern Mallis, SVP of IMG Fashion, in determining the winner among the avant-garde looks paired with Jimmy Choos, YSL and Stella McCartney heels. I won’t reveal the winner in case you’ve Tivo’d the episode, but here’s a hint: Top honors didn’t go to the designer working with Malkemus’ house brand… 

The December 2024 Issue

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