#including a flight schedule change and missing a flight thanks to Boutique Air rebooking all of my tickets

[quicksilversquared]

A Different Type of Inspiration

Marinette has some of the worst designer's block that she's ever had, and Alya will stop at nothing to find some source of inspiration to get her friend designing again. Right before she (almost) gives up, they see a poster for a very interesting design contest. Will the theme be enough to get Marinette's inspiration flowing again?

(FF.net) (AO3)

Marinette was stuck, stuck, stuck, stuck, stuck.

Sometimes it happened- she got caught in a design slump, usually because she was tired and practically sleepwalking. Sometimes she drew a blank when she was free and had all the time in the world to sew.

But no matter the circumstances, it was frustrating.

"Just nothing. My brain is empty," Marinette complained to Alya. "I've tried designing everything. Hats, skirts, shirts, dresses, jackets, pants, even purses and backpacks! Nothing good is coming to mind!"

"Maybe you should take a break from designing," Alya suggested. "I mean, you aren't entering a design competition or anything anytime soon, right?"

"I'm not, but I wanted to make something new for my wardrobe! And I can't just give up as soon as designer's block hits." Marinette was frowning at her closet. "That's not how the fashion world works."

"Have you looked around the city for inspiration?"

"Of course I have." Marinette gestured to the bulletin board that had appeared on her desk. Pictures from across the city were pinned there, both monuments and people and even storefronts and plants. The pictures looked like they were in serious danger of creating a paper avalanche any second. "And I found interesting things, but they weren't inspiring any designs."

"How about the fabric store?" Alya suggested. "Maybe the fabric will talk to you."

That inspired a snort and an eye-roll from Marinette. "I think you've been watching too much Project Runway again, Alya."

"Well, have you?"

Marinette sighed. "No, I haven't."

Alya perked up. "Field trip, then! Come on, come on, and bring your camera!"

   The first few aisles weren't even remotely inspiring. There were cotton prints in all sorts of hues and prints, and while some of them were gorgeous- Marinette took some photos for future reference-none of them were really inspiring her at all. The next couple of rows were knits and while Marinette spent more time there, occasionally draping things over Alya's head, she didn't come up with any ideas. The sportswear fabrics aisle got passed by next, followed by the brocades, the satins, and the vinyl. By the time they passed through the section of trims, Alya was starting to wish that she had let Marinette go by herself to the store.

"I don't know why I'm even bothering to look through this aisle," Marinette grumbled as they paused briefly by the aisle of leather hides. "I've never been inspired by it before, I don't know why I would be now."

"Why?" Alya asked, pulling a dyed blue leather from near the end of the row off of the shelf and inspecting it. "Does it not drape well?"

Marinette shrugged. "It does, from what I can tell, but I get squicked out by the whole 'it's actually skin' thing, I think. If I could get past that, I could probably come up with some ideas for jackets and whatnot. Jagged Stone has some amazing leather jackets that I'd love to kind of replicate, but..." She shuddered. "Skin. It gives me creative block."

"Okay, fair enough," Alya sighed, following Marinette back towards the front of the store. It had been a thoroughly wasted day, it seemed. Marinette wasn't any more inspired than she had started out, and the only thing that Alya had gotten out of their trip was sore feet. She wasn't going to give up, though. There had to be something out there to inspire Marinette, Alya knew it.

And then her eyes caught on an announcement board at the front of the store. An employee had just finished stapling a new sign up to the bulletin board, and even from here Alya could read the words Agreste and Contest in the title.

Well. That could either be a source of inspiration for Marinette, or it would make her groan over a missed opportunity because her head was completely empty of ideas. Alya decided to be optimistic and she grabbed Marinette's shoulder. "Hey! Let's go check out the notice board and see if anything on there gives you any ideas."

"It normally just has postings about sewing classes and quilting workshops," Marinette said dryly, but she let Alya drag her over to the board. It only took seconds from Marinette to spot the same posting that Alya had. "Mr. Agreste is holding a design contest! Oh, no, this is the worst possible timing! I don't have any ideas!"

"Wait, look at it again," Alya said, frowning as she scanned the announcement. It seemed a bit strange, though to be fair she didn't look at design contest announcements that often and didn't really have a great idea what might be considered normal. "It says-"

"'Outfits must be designed using nontypical fabrics,'" Marinette read off of the flyer. "'No cotton or wool knits/weaves, silk, et cetera. Fastenings such as buttons and zippers are allowed. Contact Bessie Leroy with questions.' That's a lower designer at Gabriel," she explained to Alya. "Mr. Agreste probably didn't want to be bothered with questions himself, and Nathalie is probably organizing the thing and doesn't want to be bothered with a million emails." She frowned as she glanced back at the announcement. "I wonder what he's trying to accomplish with this kind of contest. It just seems super-weird."

Alya shrugged as she peered over Marinette's shoulder. "Maybe he just wants to know what kinds of materials are out there and the best way of doing that is a contest. Or maybe he's just tired of seeing draped silk gowns." They had looked up the past few large-scale contests that Mr. Agreste had held, and three out of the five past winners had been silk gowns. Pretty- gorgeous, even- but hardly enough of a standout design to stand out in a room full of silk gowns. The material had done most of the work for the designer.

This time, the contest would push designers out of their comfort zones. The design would have to stand up on its own and be truly fashion-forward, no using materials that were amazing on their own as crutches.

"That's just going to make it harder to be inspired," Marinette groaned, already turning and heading back towards the aisles. "I never go in the aisle of weird fabrics. They're mostly for costumes anyway."

"Maybe that's what you need to do, then," Alya suggested, jogging after friend even as her feet protested. "Go look at funny fabrics and see where your imagination takes you. Where is this aisle, anyway?"

"Back behind the leather." Marinette's nose wrinkled. "The entire area smells funny because of it."

"...maybe funny smells will spark your creative streak?" Alya suggested, trying not to wince. She was not doing a great job as inspiration cheerleader right now. Hours of wandering the fabric store had worn down her well of inspirational suggestions.

Marinette laughed at that as they entered the leather aisle (which, Alya had to admit, did smell funny). They headed down the aisle quickly- so quickly that Alya almost missed the rolls of rather interestingly-colored leather. Fake leather, it turned out when Alya paused to inspect it. "Leather" made out of cork.

Cork, which would probably be considered a nontypical material.

   Marinette was thrilled.

"Some of these look pretty similar to leather, especially from a distance," Marinette said as she ran her hands over a roll. "And it drapes really nicely too, I'm super surprised." She twisted the fabric between her fingers, testing it. "And I think I could probably sew with it, too, just like normal fabric. I might need the same kind of needle that I would have to use if I worked with leather, but it's not super-thick or anything. It's super-expensive, but Mr. Agreste does reimburse people for the materials that they use to enter his contests."

Alya's eyebrows shot up. She hadn't know that. "He does? Really?"

"It's not a universal thing for design contests," Marinette assured Alya as she pulled the roll out further to drape more of it over her arm. She gave an approving hum and pushed it back onto the shelf. "But Mr. Agreste said in an interview in the past that he doesn't want to miss great designers that maybe just don't have the resources to buy the materials they need to execute their designs properly. It evens the playing field a bit, so that the winners aren't just well-off designers that can afford to buy silk and whatnot." She pulled out her sketchbook and flipped to a new page, starting to scribble even as she continued talking. "It works, too. There's more than a few designers at Gabriel now that came from poorer families and they said that there was no way that they would have gotten Mr. Agreste's attention if they had only been able to work with the materials that they could afford back before they won some of his contests and got hired."

"That's...unusually nice of him," Alya commented, watching a jacket come to life in Marinette's sketchbook. "I wouldn't have thought Mr. Agreste to be the type of person to think that up."

"I think it was his wife's idea originally," Marinette commented idly, penciling in a pocket and cuffs on the sleeves. "And he's just kept continuing it, because it's gotten him some great designers in the past." She finally stepped back from her drawing and considered it before realizing what she had done. "Oh wow. That- actually worked! The fabric actually spoke to me. That was awesome!"

"Now you just need the rest of the outfit," Alya said, peering at the jacket design over Marinette's shoulder.

"I'm going to go look at the weird fabrics now," Marinette said absently, seemingly not hearing Alya. Her kind of floating, out-of-it expression looked curiously similar to the one she had often made when she talked to Adrien near the start of the school year. Alya had not missed that expression, but at least now it was design-related and not boy-related. "I can't believe that just happened. The design just flowed. I didn't even have to try!"

Alya could only nod along.

"I think I'm gonna go with a rock-and-roll theme," Marinette said as she rounded the corner and headed down the first aisle of less commonly used fabrics. She breezed past the vinyls without a second glance. "That jacket just screams Jagged Stone concert."

"Are you looking for more dark fabric, then?" Alya asked, pausing to inspect some lace. It was dark and had a kind of a rock-and-roll feel to it. "What about lace? Leather and lace is a pretty interesting combo, right?"

Marinette made a face. "It's a pretty classic combo, actually. Mr. Agreste would probably dock points since it's already been done."

"Has it really?" Alya had apparently missed that particular fashion trend. Still, she wasn't going to give up. "Okay, then, are you looking for something dark, or a pop of color to offset the jacke-"

"It's perfect!"

Alya glanced over, startled, to see Marinette standing in front of a row of what appeared to be some sort of netting. It came in a huge rainbow of colors, and some seemed to be shining a bit even in the somewhat dim lighting of the store. Marinette was already pulling out a bit of two colors, layering them and examining the effect.

"That looks...interesting," Alya said cautiously as she joined Marinette. She was fairly certain that the mesh was the same kind that she saw on athletic bags, and she had absolutely no idea what Marinette would be able to make out of it. "Wouldn't it be hard to work with, though?"

"Good things don't necessarily come easy." Marinette grabbed another two colors and held them up. This close, Alya could tell what she was doing. The background mesh was offset just enough that its colors peeped through the holes in the first layer of mesh. Some skin would still show through the holes unless there was some sort of backing, but that honestly just added to the whole rock-and-roll vibe.

"What's it made out of? Those ones you have right now are kind of shimmery, almost." Alya reached out to touch it. "I wouldn't expect it to be so soft, but it really wouldn't be uncomfortable to wear at all, would it?"

"It's made for athletic wear, I think," Marinette agreed. "There's definitely a front and a back side to it. That side is a little more shimmery, and the side closer to me is a little duller and a little softer." She reached over to check the label. "And- oh! One of the materials is recycled plastic. So it's environmentally friendly too, just like the cork leather!"

"You could have two themes, then," Alya suggested as Marinette continued playing with color combinations. "Unusual materials and environmentally friendly."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Marinette said a bit absently as she layered a black mesh over a red. It was striking, and instantly Alya's mind went to Ladybug theme. It wouldn't be obvious, but almost everyone living in Paris appreciated a subtle nod to Ladybug. Hell, she knew people who would buy anything as long as it had red and black in it. She herself wasn't that obsessed (or, rather, she preferred to go about her obsession in ways other than buying overpriced clothing just because it was red and black).

"I really hope that this was the sort of stuff Mr. Agreste had in mind," Marinette said a bit sheepishly as she snapped a picture. "Because I already have an idea for how to use it."

"I think that might be the point of the contest," Alya said as Marinette pulled out her sketchpad for a quick drawing. "Because otherwise you might not think to use this sort of stuff."

"I'm thinking minidress with the netting," Marinette said, turning it over in her hands. "I would need a liner, at least for the chest and skirt. But it's got a subtle shine to it that I've seen at concerts and I really think it would pair with the cork leather well."

"You should probably email the contact person and get your fabrics approved before you get too carried away," Alya joked. "And what about the liner? We still need to find something for that."

"Something in matte black would work well." Marinette sighed. "I wish I could go with bamboo or hemp, but I don't think they would count. Keep looking?"

Alya sighed, exhausted after hours spent in the store. Still, if she could help her friend in any way, she would. "Keep looking."

   Once Marinette's materials were all approved, her designing could begin in earnest. Never one to be content with letting the materials do the work for her, she had to make sure that her minidress and jacket weren't special just because of the materials they were made from. She had ended up going with nylon for the lining for the dress and for pocket lining, simply because it didn't add unnecessary thickness to her designs.

At school, Adrien didn't have much to say about the contest.

"I knew it was coming up because I overheard the designers talking about it, but that's about it," he admitted when Alya interrogated him. "I'm not involved in that side of the business at all, and even father is being rather hands-off about it. He has one of his designers organizing it with Nathalie. He came up with the idea and he'll judge, but that's about it."

"What's the prize for this one?" Nino asked. "A photoshoot again, or something else?"

"The poster just said there was a cash prize," Alya said when neither Adrien nor Marinette said anything. "But of course there's publicity as well, and that's always good. Aren't there usually other big designers that come to these things just to scout for talent?"

"There weren't any at the hat thing, though!" Nino argued. "I mean, at least no one said anything if there were."

"That was because it was so small and at a collège besides," Adrien pointed out. "This contest is a big one. It'll be getting designers from all over Paris and probably the rest of France as well."

Marinette winced at the thought. That meant potentially hundreds of designers of every skill level. There wasn't a cap listed on the fliers, so there was no way of knowing how many people she would be up against. It wasn't like the school-wide competition, where there were only five or so other entries.

At least she wasn't going in expecting to win. Participating in this sort of contest had inspired new designs just because she was looking at new materials, and at the actual contest she could see the work of other designers and even potentially get feedback from Gabriel Agreste.

   As the month rolled on, Marinette started working on her pieces in earnest. She did her homework whenever she could so she could have more time to work on her designs. Akumas were defeated in record time as she put her entire concentration into taking them down as fast as she could.

Of course, the sewing could not be rushed. Attaching the mesh layers to each other was difficult and took the longest, since she didn't want the layers to slide out of position and ruin the effect that they were creating. It was also extremely difficult to sew them without the thread showing up where she didn't want it.

Still, slowly but surely, her pieces came together. Marinette modelled them for Alya the day before the contest, and Alya was definitely impressed. Even with her normal pigtails, Marinette definitely looked like she was at least going to a rock concert, if not performing herself.

"I'm calling it now," Alya said as she watched Marinette model the outfit. "You're gonna win, hands down. That is gorgeous."

Marinette snorted as she made one last turn. "You forget that I'm going up against actual established designers. I'd be lucky to even place, but that's not that likely either."

"You're not giving yourself enough credit," Alya scolded. "I'm not exactly an established reporter, but the Ladyblog is still number one on Ladybug. You're just as talented. Just because you haven't had the training for it doesn't mean you're less talented."

Much to Alya's disappointment, Marinette still shook her head. "I still have a lot to learn. Besides, if nothing else, I finally got out of my creative block. I've been sketching some other pieces that would go along with this one if I were doing a line. They're not fully developed pieces yet- I haven't had the time to really polish them up- but I'm not blocked anymore. It's great."

   Contest day arrived, and Alya turned up at the Dupain-Cheng apartment bright and early to help Marinette get her pieces over to the area where the contest was being held. Mr. Agreste had rented out a gymnasium for the day and overnight, his staff had turned it into a gorgeous showroom with all of the efficiency of a well-oiled machine. It was a gorgeous layout, but Marinette still froze the second she stepped into the room.

The sheer number of designs in the room was absolutely overwhelming. It was filled to nearly bursting with outfits, some made by aspiring designers years older than her and with tons more experience. Some of them no doubt knew of techniques that Marinette had never even heard of, and some were even old enough that they had probably been designing for longer than Marinette had even been alive.

That wasn't what gave her most pause, though. She had known that there would be far more experienced and talented designers present. Marinette was more worried about the materials some of the other designers had used. For a long moment, she panicked. Had she somehow misinterpreted the instructions? Was she really supposed to use really unconventional materials? She could spot newspapers and garbage bags worked into gorgeous garments up and down the entrance aisle and beyond. Other non-fabric materials were also present, though in smaller numbers. Things like window shades and magazines and cardboard boxes and hardware pieces...

She was going to look like an idiot with her much more fabric-like materials.

Luckily for her sanity, Marinette had Alya along.

"I'm not seeing a whole lot of creativity with the designs," Alya said, stepping up next to Marinette with one of the garment bags draped over her arm. "Like, that newspaper dress over there? If you envision it in pastel purple, I saw that exact design last week at the mall."

"But they're unconventional materials," Marinette managed in a panicked hiss. "What if that was what I was supposed to do? Just let me turn around now before I embarrass myself in front of Mr. Agreste-"

"I'm not letting you do that." Alya had planted herself in front of Marinette, keeping her from making a run for it. She put her free hand on Marinette's shoulder and looked her dead in the eye. "You got every single one of your fabrics approved. I saw the emails. I verified that they said what you thought they said and that you weren't misunderstanding them. Your parents verified what they said. Your materials are fine. I bet a lot of these designers didn't check first so they just went with the first unconventional material they could find. Look at some of these- I bet they just designed something while watching one of Project Runway's unconventional materials challenges or something and they missed that the description was nontypical fabrics."

Marinette blinked and nodded weakly.

"You have a rocking look that you can actually wear. A lot of these dresses and skirts and whatnot wouldn't survive a walk outside. Who knows, you might get points for that. You will be fine. And even if you don't win or place or anything, you still got a rocking dress that you can wear next time Jagged Stone has a concert in Paris."

Marinette's panicked expression faded as she started nodding. She straightened her shoulders and marched forward into the gymnasium towards the sign-in table as Alya followed. It didn't take long to get her checked in and set up at her station. A standard mannequin and two chairs had been provided for each competitor so that they would have a way to display the look and so they could sit down while waiting for judging to get to them.

It looked like it was going to be a long wait.

   Marinette and Alya had been waiting for over an hour and a half when then suddenly saw Adrien appear through the crowd. He looked exhausted, though he brightened when he saw the two girls and beelined over to them right away.

"You look like death warmed over," Alya said as soon as Adrien was within earshot. "Is your father dragging you around as well? I thought you weren't judging."

"I'm not judging. Father just wants me to get a feel for how he runs these contests. I'm fairly certain I've learned nothing so far, except maybe how to pretend how to be interested." Adrien let out a groan. "There's only so many newspaper dresses I can take before I explode."

Alya perked up, elbowing Marinette. "So there's a lot of people that used unconventional materials, huh?"

"Yeah, unfortunately. Pere's not pleased with most of what he's seen so far," Adrien admitted, lowering his voice so the other contestants nearby couldn't hear. "Unconventional materials are cool to see and all and it's interesting to see how people manipulated their materials to look like fabric, but overall the designs aren't anything new. Besides," Adrien added, voice dropping even lower, "Father was considering putting the winning look into production, and obviously newspaper and wallpaper dresses aren't going to work with that."

Marinette perked up at that. For a moment, she was positively euphoric. Maybe she had a chance at winning after all! Then reality came crashing back down.

Just because a lot of the designers had essentially disqualified themselves didn't mean all of the designers had. There were still probably loads of designers that had materials like hers and quite a few of them were very, very good.

She had entered for the feedback and advice. She had to remember that. Getting her hopes up would only lead to being let down in the end.

"There's also been a lot of vinyl," Adrien added. "Dad hates vinyl. He says it can look cheap too easily, because mistakes show up and it doesn't drape particularly well. In the stuff I've seen, darts seem to be a big issue. There was maybe one designer that managed to make it look good, but then the design was nothing new."

Marinette sent a suddenly panicked look at her dress, even though she knew perfectly well that it was practically impeccable. Gabriel Agreste was a legend, and he would be able to pick out flaws in a second. On the pigeon hat, flaws had been acceptable. They hadn't been given a whole lot of time to execute the look.

But with this contest? They had had a month. There had been plenty of time to find and fix mistakes. She had spent the last few days scouring her pieces for any flaws, but she didn't have the experienced eye that Gabriel Agreste did.

"So did you run off?" Alya asked, pulling Marinette out of her most recent freak-out with a subtle elbow to her side. "Or is you father finally getting to this section? We've been waiting forever."

"Father was taking a break before doing the final set," Adrien said. He glanced around as though looking for his father. "I hope he's getting something to eat. He forgets, and then he gets really grouchy."

"More than his regular grouchy?" Alya asked with a grin, and then she promptly clapped a hand over her mouth, looking horrified. "I mean, I didn't mean to say-"

Adrien snorted, hiding a grin of his own. "He's normally running on pretty little food. I keep trying to get Nathalie to put meals on his schedule so he can't skip them, but she never does."

Marinette's stomach started twisting itself into knots again. Never mind the fact that she seemed to be in a decent position, considering that she had one of the few outfits that, from Adrien's description, seemed like it actually met the challenge's requirements, and never mind that her construction seemed pretty good. A grouchy Gabriel Agreste was a terrifying Gabriel Agreste, and he would no doubt find all sorts of flaws. She was getting so nervous; any questions from Mr. Agreste would probably make her melt into a stammering mess and then she would look like an idiot and definitely quash any miniscule chance she had of winning-

A pair of hands on her shoulders cut off that train of thought as Marinette looked up, startled. Adrien was standing in front of her, hands gripping her shoulders and holding her steady. He was peering at her in concern, and Marinette realized that she had started hyperventilating.

"You don't have anything to worry about, Marinette," Adrien said, voice low and reassuring. "Your design looks fantastic. And Father might be grouchy, but he's only really hypercritical when it comes to the older designers. Like, he'll be honest about any flaws and he won't lower his expectations, but he's much better at giving his critiques and suggestions in a more tactful way. He only really tears apart the older designers that should know better."

And, just like always, Adrien knew just what to say to calm her down.

"And just so you know- him asking questions isn't necessarily a bad thing," Adrien added once he saw that she was calming down. "You would be able to tell if he was questioning a design. But sometimes he'll ask about the design process and if you had other ideas because he likes a design and is honestly curious about how you came up with something. Don't worry if he starts asking questions." He gave her shoulders another gentle squeeze. "It might just mean that he really likes it. Just be yourself and don't overanalyze his questions, okay?"

"You're giving her conflicting advice," Alya joked. "Either she's supposed to be herself or she's supposed to not overanalyze things."

Adrien ignored her, instead choosing to focus on Marinette. "You'll do fine, I promise. Your piece is awesome, Marinette."

And Marinette, her heart pounding, managed a small smile. "Thank you, Adrien."

   Gabriel Agreste had not been having a particularly good day. Inexperienced designers from all over the country had poured in and wasted his time with poorly-executed garments. Decent designers had taken his posting too literally and came with garments made with newspaper and plastic which could have all been avoided if people had actually bothered to ask about using those particular materials.

And then there had been the vinyl. There had been entire garments made out of the stuff. It had been done before, it was tacky, and most of it was poorly made.

"I think I've seen less than a dozen designs that are possible contenders," Gabriel sighed as he paged through his notes in disgust. "How many disasters do we have left to look through?"

"Only about twenty entries left, sir," Nathalie replied immediately. She handed him the information card for the next designer. "Do you want me to take the notes for the other designers, sir? Miss Leroy and Adrien's bodyguard can start sorting them out."

Gabriel sighed through his nose. "I suppose." He sent a look at his personal assistant. "In the future, ensure that the designers get screened first. Perhaps we should have required all contestants to send in their materials list so that we didn't have to waste our time. This is getting ridiculous."

Nathalie nodded, making a note on her ever-present tablet.

"And where did my son go?" Gabriel demanded. "I want him to see the entire process."

"I believe he's hanging out with the next designer." Nathalie pointed across the room. Sure enough, Adrien's familiar blond head stood near the next display. "It's one of his classmates."

   Gabriel did not have high expectations with the first glance at the card. Another student, and only just finishing collège at that. His expectations only rose marginally when he noticed the name.

So the girl had won one of his previous contests before. That hadn't stopped other far more experienced designers from churning out utter disasters for this particular contest, and the kid might be a one-hit wonder. Coming in with high expectations only meant being let down.

And then Gabriel set eyes on the design.

It was rock-and-roll, something he didn't dabble much in, but there was no denying that it was excellently done. Red mesh was overlaid by black, offset just enough that only a little skin would show through. The dress was lined with a black fabric in the skirt and over the chest, making the otherwise edgy garment perfectly tasteful. It would work well as a performance piece as well with only a few tweaks, and the mesh ensured that there would be plenty of ventilation in hot, crowded areas with lights burning down overhead. It had a good design, enough to make it stand out beyond just the fabric, but it wasn't overworked in an attempt to make something completely new. The jacket- cork leather, according to the designer card- was well done as well, with enough detailing to give it a distinctly rocker vibe without being too fussy.

This was exactly what he had wanted to see. The pieces- the dress especially, the cork leather that the jacket was made of just barely counted as a nontypical material in his mind, since it was imitating normal leather- were made out of materials that most people wouldn't have thought to use, but it was completely wearable. His mind whirred, already thinking of other ways he might be able to use that divine mesh layering technique.

This was one designer where he would definitely have to ask what other designs she had considered. It was possible that they could do a whole line with that fabric as the focal point-

He was getting ahead of himself, but it had been a while since he was so inspired.

Gabriel took a moment to make sure his best poker face was in place before approaching. Adrien looked up, stepping back from Marinette and her friend as Gabriel and Nathalie joined the group. He looked somewhat abashed, surely knowing that other contestants might view his friendship with the girls as favoritism.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng," Gabriel said, sticking out his hand. "It's a pleasure to see you again, and in person this time."

"Same." Marinette shook his hand. She was nervous, he could tell, but he doubted that she was going to break down like some of the other competitors had. She had stood up for herself admirably during the hat competition, when many designers would have floundered in the face of having their design stolen from them.

"Tell me about your design, please," Gabriel said as he started circling the piece. It was just as professionally done up close as it had seemed from further back. Marinette started explaining, and it was obvious that she had practiced. Her spiel was short and direct, letting the clothes speak for themselves. It was a skill that even some older designers sometimes had trouble with. He twisted the fabric between his fingers, examining seams and the less obvious features as he listened.

"So these are all environmentally friendly fabrics?" Gabriel asked, impressed. She had limited herself in the range of materials she could choose from but that hadn't had any detrimental effect on her outfit. It could easily be yet another selling point, since environmentally conscious was definitely on trend these days.

Marinette nodded.

"That's a nice touch." Gabriel jotted down a few notes on his sheet. "Are there any changes you would make to the outfit after the contest is over?"

"One. I would replace the lining with bamboo or hemp in place of the nylon, since that would be softer and more comfortable. The nylon gets itchy and needs to be layered so that it isn't transparent. That created a lot of static very quickly." Marinette winced ever so slightly, making Gabriel guess that she had tried on the garment and gotten shocked herself. "Other than that, I probably wouldn't make any changes. I'm very happy with how it turned out."

"Were there other designs you considered?"

Marinette mulled the question over for a moment. "Not really. I was pretty set on this one from the start. I did consider using green instead of red as the backing mesh but it just didn't pop quite as well. But as soon as I saw the fabric, the design immediately popped into my head. There were very few changed that I ended up making to the initial design."

Mr. Agreste nodded. "It is nice when that happens. Now, if you were making an outfit for a male model based on the same concept, what would you change?"

Marinette's heart skipped a beat. This was the approving questioning that Adrien had talked about! She gave herself a moment to think before she started talking.

"I would definitely change the proportions on the jacket," she started, gesturing to it as she spoke. "Broader shoulders, obviously, and maybe a slight tapering down to the waist instead of having it completely square. The zippers would also have a slightly different placement. And I would make the dress into a t-shirt or maybe a tank and probably entirely lined instead of just having portions, since it would look kind of cheap to be entirely unlined and but it would look funny to just have portions done. That would get paired with cork leather pants done in a similar style to the jacket."

Mr. Agreste nodded. Very sensible. That would be a good adaptation. "I might suggest lining the front of the shirt but not the back, if it would be worn under the jacket anyway. That would provide more ventilation, which might be wanted in a hot environment such as a crowded concert hall, but it wouldn't be readily apparent to others."

Marinette's eyes widened and she nodded. "And I suppose in that same vein, a tank top or sleeveless shirt might be preferable to a t-shirt since you wouldn't see the sleeves anyway with the jacket and it would be cooler without."

"Precisely. And I might even suggest having some slits or zippers in the pants that would allow for some air flow should the concert venue get too stuffy." Mr. Agreste glanced down at his paper, though it didn't look as though he was really seeing it. "And if you were to alter this for a stage outfit for a performer?"

Adrien grinned as his father and Marinette proceeded to discuss alterations that could be done to make the outfit really pop enough to be a performance piece. From there they moved on to discussing how Marinette would design a collection around the pieces she had created. Mr. Agreste pointed out elements of the outfits that Marinette might consider reusing in other pieces to tie together a collection and they both discussed how much variation there should be in a collection to have the pieces tied together, but each unique and not a different-color repeat of a previous outfit. His father hadn't shown anywhere near as much interest to any other designer, and it was great to see his friend getting so much advice. With each outfit that they discussed, his father was pointing out small details that a beginning designer might not originally consider- not it a harsh way, but in suggestions of what he might do if he were designing the piece and why. He was good at not making younger designers feel ridiculously inexperienced with his critiques-slash-suggestions, and Adrien only wished that his father could extend that skill to...well, to everything else he did.

Adrien came back to earth with a start when he heard the word "runway" being tossed around. He blinked at his father and Marinette before exchanging an incredulous glance with Alya. They weren't seriously designing a runway right now, were they?

"Sir, there are still more contestants to visit," Nathalie reminded Mr. Agreste before they could get too carried away- or, well, more carried away than they had already gotten. "We've spent fifteen minutes here already and the contest is supposed to end in another thirty minutes, followed by an hour for deliberation and then the announcement of the winners."

Mr. Agreste snorted, but stepped back from Marinette's design regardless. "I will hardly need an hour to deliberate. But yes, I suppose I should go look at a few more newspaper dresses. It was a pleasure meeting you again, Miss Dupain-Cheng. Adrien, come."

The little group left, and seconds later Marinette had fallen back into her chair. Alya started over, worried that all of the pressure from having to answer so many questions might have overwhelmed her friend. But she had no reason to worry- within a second of hitting the seat, Marinette was reaching for her sketchbook. Alya couldn't help the incredulous snort that escaped her as Marinette's pencil started positively flying across the page. She had only just gotten done with what Alya assumed to be a fairly stressful interview-slash-designer interrogation, and she was already sitting down to design? Unbelievable.

"I need to write down everything Mr. Agreste told me," Marinette said without looking up. Evidently she had heard (and correctly interpreted) Alya's snort. "I entered for the chance to get some feedback, and I got way more advice than I thought I would get. Mr. Agreste doesn't seem like the type to give out advice more than once. If I enter another contest of his and don't follow his advice for no reason other than I didn't remember it, then he's probably not going to go easy on me, since I should know better."

"He doesn't exactly seem like the type to give out the kind of advice he did freely, so maybe he does have a heart hidden in there somewhere," Alya said dryly, watching as Marinette finished scribbling out a list of bullet points of advice and immediately moved on to working out preliminary design sketches for some of the outfit ideas she and Mr. Agreste were tossing around. The sound of irritated voices- or, rather, one irritated voice in particular- made her glance over to the next contestant. There, Mr. Agreste appeared to be straight-up ripping apart a design (well, verbally at least). "...or maybe not, it's hard to tell."

   By the time the scheduled deliberation period was over and it was time to announce the winners, most of the designers had already left. Mr. Agreste had apparently made it fairly clear to anyone who hadn't used some sort of fabric that they were not even in the running to win. Marinette was impressed that there hadn't been any akumas created, but then again it probably helped that everyone who entered had come in knowing Gabriel Agreste's reputation and knowing that they could very well be on the receiving end of one of his scathing critiques.

That didn't mean that she wasn't going to have to fight an akuma today, though. Marinette had no doubt that there might be a designer-turned-akuma once winners were announced- and especially if she placed at all. She wasn't blind to some of the looks that the older designers were giving her, especially those who had been near her in the showroom and had seen how long she had talked to Mr. Agreste. Still, she wasn't going to read too far into it. It was fully possible that Mr. Agreste had spent so much time talking to her and giving her advice because she was a student who had more to learn from him and because she was a friend of Adrien's.

"Designers to the front of the room!" Nathalie's voice boomed over the loudspeakers. "The winners of the contest will be announced shortly."

"Here, I'll take the jacket bag," Alya said, reaching out for the second bag Marinette was holding. They had packed up the designs after the judging round was finished and Mr. Agreste had retired to a back room to peruse the cards for the few designs that actually got his approval. That way, they could leave faster after the contest was over and they wouldn't have to worry about someone messing with the outfit if Marinette placed at all.

"I can't wait to see what designed actually placed," Marinette said as she handed the bag over to Alya. She shouldered the other bag, the one containing the dress she had made. "I'm curious about the other fabrics people found now. I've got loads of ideas about what I can do with the mesh stuff and the cork, but there's no such thing as too much inspiration."

"You're lucky summer is coming up and you'll actually have time to work on stuff," Alya said with a laugh as she led the way towards the front of the room. "If this were the middle of the school year..."

"It was the middle of the school year when I started working on these pieces," Marinette pointed out. "And I made the time. It'll be easier without having to deal with homework, though." She made a face. "I will have to deal with Manon more often, though."

"You could just say no," Alya pointed out. They joined the crowd of anxious designers waiting for the winners to be announced. "Madam Chamack could find another babysitter."

"But I need the money for my fabric," Marinette groaned, lower lip starting to jut out in a pout. "And you saw the price of that cork leather, right? The other pieces I've thought of have that incorporated as well, and there's no way I can afford that much of it. I'll just have to grin and bear it... and hope that Manon grows out of her stubborn phase sooner rather than later."

"There's a cash prize for winning this," Alya reminded Marinette in an almost sing-song voice. "And if Adrien was right about things going into production, you would get money from that too, right?"

"I would have to win first," Marinette pointed out, her voice low. It only took Alya a second to figure out that her friend didn't want to attract the attention of any of the other designers around them, and a little too late she realized that her assumption that her friend would win (her very valid assumption, considering how long Mr. Agreste had talked with Marinette) probably looked pretty conceited, especially considering that the two of them were among the youngest people there. "So I don't think I'll quit babysitting quite yet."

The crowd fell silent as Mr. Agreste strode out onto the makeshift stage. A screen descended behind him, presumably to display photos of the winning outfits. Nathalie followed Mr. Agreste out, and they could see Adrien and the Gorilla hovering in the wings.

"Thank you all for coming here today," Mr. Agreste said somewhat stiffly as he stood in front of the podium that had been set up for him in the center of the stage. "It is time to announce the winners of today's contest. It was not as hard of a decision as I hoped it might be, as apparently my announcement didn't make it clear enough that I wanted to see unusual fabrics, not... newspaper dresses."

There were some cringes as the few designers that had made such dresses but somehow hadn't caught on to Mr. Agreste's immediate dismissal of their outfits based on their materials finally caught on that they had no chance of winning. A few of the other designers- ones who had gotten their lists of materials approved- exchanged excited glances at that, knowing full well that their chances of winning had drastically improved with so much of the pool of candidates disqualified.

"Still, I did come across some great designs out there," Mr. Agreste continued. "Now, without further delay, I present our runner-ups: Miss Melanie Derose, Miss Olya Noel, and Mr. Kevin Blanc." Three designs flashed up on the screen. One was a dress, one was a shirt and skirt combo, and one looked like it might be a wedding gown. Alya was surprised that it placed as high as it did because really, who entered a wedding dress in a contest for Gabriel? Gabriel, to the best of Alya's knowledge, did not do wedding dresses.

Polite applause rang out as the three runner-ups went up to go shake hands with Mr. Agreste. They got their photos taken, and then were each handed a gift certificate for a fabric store before they trotted back down the stairs on the stage and rejoined the group still waiting below.

"Third place: Mrs. Brenna Faure."

More clapping as an older woman went up on stage. She had designed a business attire sort of outfit, a shirt, jacket, and pants.

"The materials really don't seem that out there," Alya murmured to Marinette. "Don't get me wrong, it's a nice design and it looks cool, but for a contest with unusual materials?"

"I think the jacket is layers of tulle," Marinette said, peering up at the screen. "That's how she got that gradual change in color and the 3-D kind of look to it. I don't know about the other pieces. It is a very Gabriel look, though. It definitely is more in line with what they normally make than my piece is."

"I thought the point was to design out of the box a bit," Alya grumbled. Still, if that was what had won third place, then Marinette's piece would definitely place as well, right? Surely at least second place would be hers.

"The 3-D effect probably counted as out of the box." Marinette was peering up at the screen, intrigued. "I wonder...could I recreate that effect, but maybe with a night sky or something? I wish I could have seen that piece in person to see exactly how she did it."

"I've lost her," Alya sighed as Marinette tore her attention off of the stage to jot the idea down in her sketchbook. She struggled for a moment to keep a hold on the garment bag she still held, until Alya took it from her so Marinette could get her ideas down before the next winner was announced.

"Second place," Mr. Agreste announced as Mrs. Faure went back down the stairs to join the audience. "Mr. Justin Lacroix."

As the young man ascended the stairs to accept his prize and a photo, a casual outfit appeared on screen. The top was made out of braided fabric, like a braided rug, and hung off-the-shoulder. It was the clear focal piece, with the pants fading away.

Alya sniffed. If Marinette had lost to that, then Adrien's father had well and lost his mind. Sure, maybe it fit in with the brand better, but it was...well, not boring, she could see the appeal, but not as awesome as Marinette's dress and jacket.

"I like the texture," Marinette commented as the man waved to the crowd before bowing to Mr. Agreste and scampering off. "I wonder how he cut down on the bulk that the braid would normally create. You can tell that he just left it for the neckline, that's why it's chunkier, but he did something to the rest of it."

"Ask him later," Alya suggested. "He might not tell another older designer, but you're young enough that he might not mind telling you."

A sharp glare from a nearby designer quieted both of them before Marinette could respond. "Hush! Mr. Agreste is about to announce the winner!" As she turned back to face the front, both girls could hear her mutter to a nearby designer, "I don't even know why he even allows kids to enter these things. Heaven knows that they would never win. They're just wasting his time."

Funny, that's not what Mr. Agreste seemed to think, Alya thought, exchanging a glance with Marinette. Her friend looked highly incredulous. Wonder how much time he spent talking with Ms. Grouchy over there?

Mr. Agreste glanced back out at the crowd and Alya could have sworn that there was a hint of a smile around the corners of his lips, but that was impossible. Gabriel Agreste didn't smile. His face would probably break if he tried. "And now, in first place, for a particularly inspired design using a very interesting material..."

"...may I congratulate our young winner, Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

Even the akuma that popped up six minutes later, raging about favoritism and students stealing wins from real designers, couldn't diminish Marinette's joy.

I know it's perhaps not the most realistic thing to have Marinette win over a bunch of other designers, especially established ones, but the thing is that Gabriel has to actually like someone's aesthetic for them to win. Someone could be a fantastic designer but design things that don't fit Gabriel's personal taste, and even though they have a ton of experience they wouldn't win a contest that's focused on the Gabriel brand. Just based on the show, Gabriel likes what he's seen of Marinette's aesthetic (with the pigeon hat), so it follows that he would perhaps be more likely to pick her as winner.

(....also, he was REALLY inspired by the mesh technique. That may have been an influence.)

(I've been watching too much Project Runway. You can tell by my overuse of the word "aesthetic" :D And, in the story, most of the designers had also watched too much Project Runway and that was why so many went for unconventional materials instead of just unconventional fabrics)

Also re: Gabriel's characterization: I tend to write him kind of like Gordon Ramsey. He's VERY hard on the adults, who should know better, but is more of a guiding force with kids. He seemed to be a bit calmer than we sometimes see him with the bowler hat contest, which was all students, but he RIPPED into Alec (at least SOMEWHAT rightfully) when the TV host decided to trick Gabriel into being on the TV show, knowing full well that Gabriel wouldn't want to do it. It'll be interesting to see how accurate this is or isn't once we (finally) start getting new episodes again.