craftgrrl | an interesting problem

i volunteered to sew two outfits for an upcoming fashion show in school. today was a dress rehearsal and the other designers' outfits totally outshone mine... granted most of the others have plenty of design experience and i have none... although this show is not a competition, i'd still like to be able to hold my own...

here are my designs: blue toga dress and red tube dress with ties...

after discussion with my models, i've decided to chop them short like this perhaps (my models helpfully folded the hems up):

but they still seem so plain... i also thought of redoing the blue one and added horizontal folds to it (perhaps below the waist, and only the front panel? something like in the above photo, you can see it's kinda folded)... i'm really stuck in a rut... can i salvage my outfits?

any ideas welcome! thrifty ideas even more welcomed! ideas for accessories (planning to make), shoes, makeup and hairstyling too! :) thanks awfully! :)