I don't know if someone ask you this before but remember the fashion contest where Chloe copy Marinette design? Marinette signature exist the hat Chloe made when Marinette sketch doesn't have signature is such a cop out.
There are also the fact how much of health hazards wild pigeon feather is. Considering Adrien—someone she crush on—and Chat Noir—her superhero partner— have allergy to it she would think twice before using it.
If it was me I would made sure there are signature in sketch or make Chloe rob the hat Marinette made. Hell, they could made Gabriel ask why Marinette design the hat the way it was. Like what the thought process and inspiration? Would have made both look smarter and more like real designer.
And maybe made Marinette change her design a little after Chat Noir allergy disaster and realized oh maybe I need to change this design a little bit. Would have made her look more considerate.
If it was you have would you fix it?
I checked the episode's image gallery and you're right! The episode doesn't appear to feature a sketch of Marinette's final design, but we do see several proposed designs and none of them have Marinette's signature. Here are a two of the rejected designs along with the final hat to show off the problem:
This isn't a major flaw, but it is disappointing. Each of the designs should include her signature as a fun, subtle way to set up the big reveal. A little easter egg to look for on a rewatch. Right now, there's no way to see the big reveal coming which is fine since it's not that serious of a reveal, but I'd still prefer there to be some setup since it's so easy to include. That's the only changed I'd make to the hat plot due to the lack of time for anything more grand. Sure, it'd be nice to let Marinette impress Gabriel with her knowledge in addition to her design, but the design alone is fine especially given the target audience. A lecture on millinery is not a great fit for a kids' show.
As for the pigeon feather thing, that doesn't bother me. Yes, you shouldn't mess with wild animal feathers due to disease, but it ties the hat plot to the episode's akuma and I appreciate that. It also gives Marinette a clue about Chat Noir's identity which is fun. My only complaint on that front is that it never goes anywhere. With all the little identity hints we see in season one, I expected that we'd reach a point where Marinette would get to figure out her partner's identity since she's obsessed with Adrien and good at solving puzzles. Instead, the show nixed that pattern and we don't see anything like that in the later seasons. (And no, the allergy was NOT foreshadowing that Adrien was a sentimonster. Don't even go there.)
The only change I might make in the episode itself is to have Marinette mention needing to buy a pigeon feather or clean the one she picked due to health reasons. That gives the health warning while keeping the plot intact. I wouldn't have her avoid feathers due to potential allergies as that's not a reasonable expectation. No one told her that Adrien has an allergy so there's no reason why she would avoid giving Adrien a pigeon feather just because Chat Noir is allergic. That would be like expecting someone to stop baking with wheat flour because they met one person who is celiac. Massive overreaction!
Now that we've gone through the nitpicks, I'll reiterate that my biggest disappointment with this episode isn't the episode itself, it's the lack of payoff for the things setup by this episode's ending. Marinette signing her designs is a cool idea that they should have done more with! Marinette designing anything is something they should have done more with! Marinette impressing Gabriel should have gone somewhere! Instead, all we get is Marinette dropping off the hat for Adrien to wear during the Style Queen episode. That leads to Audrey being impressed by Marinette which leads to Queen Bee so I can't say that nothing comes of this, but the payoff is pretty lackluster compared to other paths they could have taken. I would have vastly preferred to see Marinette and Gabriel develop a positive mentor, mentee relationship to give Marinette a more complex relationship with Gabriel going into their final showdown. As is, they're little more than strangers which is boring.
My other, more minor critique is how weird this episode's civilian plot is. This is one of the show's first episodes and it lead me to believe that Marinette was at some sort of fancy design school since everyone in the class is expected to have the skills to make a hat that's worthy of being featured in a professional photo shoot. It's also presented as a standard competition the school does:
Denis Damoclès: You only have one day to work on your fashion piece, and it must be your own design. In ten hours your fittest presentation will be judged by none other than the great fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, the father of our very own student Adrien Agreste. In fact, Adrien will model the winning design in his next photoshoot. And now, to announce this year's theme: derby hats.
But no, Françoise Dupont is a normal school so why does this competition even exist? I would have made it a Paris-wide competition that Marinette chose to enter and not a class assignment, but maybe they didn't have the budget to animate that. Either way, it's not a major flaw. It's just weird.
