Laura Bennett
Laura Eugenia Bennett is an American architect and fashion designer and one of the four finalists on Bravo's July 2006's Project Runway.
Biography
Bennett was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She received her undergraduate degree in architecture from the University of Houston and a graduate degree in the same field from Columbia University in New York City.Bennett has six children: one daughter Cleo, from her first marriage, and five sons: Peik, Truman, Pierson, Larson, and Finn, with whom she discovered she was pregnant while competing on Project Runway, 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 headquarters in New York City. In 2013, Bennett 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. At the Lausanne 2018 World Archery Masters Championships, Bennett won gold in the Recurve Master Women category in both the indoor and outdoor competitions.
''Project Runway''
Her designs for Project Runway 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 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 of hiring outside help to complete his line. 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.