The X Factor's Drew Defends Her Dress: I Expected Some Not to Like It

It takes something pretty special to draw a negative word from Paula Abdul, but Drew Ryniewicz's Wednesday night performance dress did just that.

Abdul praised the 14-year-old X Factor contestant's rendition of Coldplay's "Fix You" before, in a rare moment, slamming her ensemble — a Punky Brewster-style mash-up of an evening gown that Ryniewicz wore with black feather earrings and rainbow hair. "That outfit took the seriousness away. Don't take fashion advice from Simon anymore," Abdul told her.

Read our recap of Wednesday's episode of The X Factor

But the singer says she has no regrets about the bold fashion statement she designed herself: "My song was so emotional and slow, and I wanted my dress to be fun," she told TVGuide.com after the show. "I expected some not to like it."

Ryniewicz said she designed the dress to represent every aspect of her style. "It's a little bit of edginess with girlyness. The paint splatters are total teenager. I wanted this performance to say, I'm still a teenager, I'm not trying to be any older than I am."

And, for the record, she says her mentor approved of her look. "Simon liked my dress. I was actually worried about that," Ryniewicz said. "Right before the show, he said, 'I like your dress, I want you to keep the dress,' and afterward he came up to me and said, 'I like the outfit, don't listen to Paula.'"

Meanwhile, girl group LaKoda Rayne has stopped defending the prom dress debacle from last week. "I don't think we're ever going to go back to that individual colors, solid dress thing. We got some bad feedback about it and I think we've learned our lesson," Hayley Orrantia said. The singers backed it up by photo-shopping themselves on to the Teletubbies for their Twitter followers.

"We weren't aware we were representing Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers ... all Saturday morning cartoons," the group's Paige Elizabeth said: