Innovation

Design a sexy, glamorous outfit for a night on the town, made from materials bought at a store that all the famous designers go to. Sounds simple, but there's a catch: the venue is no fabric store but is actually a popular Manhattan supermarket.   Fantasies of silk and cashmere fly out the window, replaced by panicked visions of plastic wrap and aluminum foil. Everything they will use must be purchased here. With a $50 budget and a mere hour in which to spend it, our twelve hopefuls have their work cut out for them. Tim advises them to be as unconventional as you can be and make it work.   Mario is the first to the checkout with four shower curtains and box of cotton swabs, with the latter not actually for the dress but for their intended hygienic purpose. Kara made off with all the ribbons she could find, eleven rolls, plus four feather dusters and a painting kit. Austin falls in love with cornhusks, carting away 28 ears of corn -- enough to feed an army -- along with two bags of potato chips and some duct tape. Also on board the food train: Robert, who fills his bags with flat bread, food coloring, candy and three mop heads; and Wendy, who clearly has something colorful in mind, picking green peppers, rope, candy, breath mints, glue and various trinkets A blue folding lawn chair cries out to Nora, though perhaps only she, it and the eight plastic placemats she bought could fathom their potential for glamour. Daniel plans a masterpiece in three media: butcher paper, foil and trash bags. He even save a few cents by signing up for a frequent shopper's card. Alexandra is working in the key of brown, with brown pantyhose and matching socks as her instrument. Starr stakes her hopes on sparkly wrapping paper, along with bubble gum, tissue paper and an ironing board cover. Jay grabs six rolls of foil, a bag of children's jacks, and a trio of roasting pans. MacGyver, eat your heart out. Coming up on the deadline, Vanessa appears to be having a meltdown right there, on the linoleum. Hopefully, her crawfish, netting, balloons and candy will server her well. Not only is Mario the out of the market, he's also the first out of the workroom.   After half an hour, he is satisfied with his simple shower curtain gown, though the competition is not terribly impressed. Hardest at work, perhaps, is Austin, who has been shucking corn and weaving husks but has yet to hit on anything that quite resembles fashion. With only a few hours left, Starr is among the disheartened, judging her foil-and-bow outfit gaudy.