Laura Eugenia Bennett (born August 2, 1963) is an American

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and fashion designer and one of the four finalists on Bravo's July 2006's ''Project Runway'' (Season 3).

Biography

Bennett was born in

New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. She received her

undergraduate degree An undergraduate degree (also called first degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree earned by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher e ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the university in Texas with over 47,000 students. Its campus, which is primarily in s ...

and a graduate degree in the same field from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Bennett has six children: one daughter Cleo (born 1988), from her first marriage, and five sons: Peik (born 1996), Truman (born 1999), Pierson (born 2002), Larson (born 2003), and Finn (born Dec 1, 2006), whom she discovered she was pregnant with while competing on ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. The contestants compete with each other to create the best clothes and are restricted by time, mater ...

'', with her late husband, architect Peter L. Shelton. On August 26, 2012, Shelton died of cancer in their New York home. Shelton's work as a co-founder of Shelton, Mindel & Associates, and a memorial to him was in the November 2012 issue of Architectural Digest. She worked part-time at his design firm, Shelton, Mindel & Associates, best known for its design of the

Polo Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren Corporation is an American publicly traded fashion company that was founded in 1967 by American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. The company is headquartered in New York City, producing products ranging from the mid-range to the luxur ...

headquarters in New York City. In 2013, Bennett (re-styled as Laura Bennett Shelton) relocated her family and business to the Laros estate in Bethlehem, PA. The house is on a property originally belonging to her husband's maternal grandfather, prominent early 20th century businessman and textile manufacturer R.K. Laros. She serves as Vice Chair of the R.K. Laros Foundation. After her relocation to Pennsylvania, Bennett Shelton took up archery, and within six months was competing at a world-class level, even participating in the 2014 World Indoor Archery Championships.

''Project Runway''

Her designs for ''

'' tended to be mostly elegant evening wear, and on more than one occasion, despite agreeing that she had a very glamorous, definitive point of view, the judges expressed their concerns that she was aiming strictly for an older market, although she did win one of the weekly challenges. She was also known for completing her garments in short amounts of time.

Tim Gunn Timothy MacKenzie Gunn (born July 29, 1953) is an American author, academic, and television personality. He served on the faculty of Parsons School of Design from 1982 to 2007 and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to Mar ...

has joked on her speed often in his podcasts. In the next-to-last episode, while preparing for Olympus Fashion Week, she accused fellow finalist

Jeffrey Sebelia Jeffrey Sebelia is an American fashion designer and founder of the clothing label Cosa Nostra, which he headed from a loft on Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. He is best known as the winner of the third season of American reality show ''Projec ...

of hiring outside help to complete his line (which Mychael and Uli had also raised concerns about). After an investigation by Bravo producers, no substantial proof was found for Bennett's claim and Sebelia continued in the competition. Bennett ultimately was the second runner-up after Uli; Sebelia was the winner.

Post-''Project Runway'' design career

In February 2008, she debuted her LBD collection on QVC.

Author

After her appearance on ''Project Runway'', Bennett started writing for the Web site ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

''. Her article topics ranged from family life with her six children to fashion on the red carpet and a wide range of other topics. Her 2010 book, ''Didn't I Feed You Yesterday? A Mother's Guide to Sanity in Stilettos,'' was published by

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

, followed in 2012 by ''Handmade Chic: Fashionable Projects That Look High-End, Not Homespun,'' published by Rodale.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennett, Laura 1963 births American fashion designers American women fashion designers American women architects Project Runway (American series) participants Architects from New Orleans Living people University of Houston alumni Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation alumni 21st-century American women