Apparel | Wednesday, January 27, 2010

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SUPIMA IN THE BLOGOSPHERE: What a week it’s been!

By Greg Wang

Supima Design Competition celebrity host Katrina Szish flanked by V Magazine models Candice Huffine (left) and Marquita Pring (right), on New York Blondes .

NEW YORK—The good news just won’t stop.

Last week’s runway finals of the third annual Supima Design Competition held at The Times Center is still surfacing on fashion blogs, despite the fact that European menswear shows and several important trade shows were held the same week.

Here, a sampling:

On Stylelist.com, Lisa Marsh noted that the runway finals were mobbed to the point where people had to be turned away.

“GINA DE SILVA WINS TOP HONORS AT SUPIMA DESIGN COMPETITION” was the headline on The Fabulous Report. Here’s some of what it said:

After an exhausting search to find the next design-start, with stops at Bloomingdales and other similar outlets–six finalist remained standing. The designers–Gina DeSilva, Heber Sanchez, Robin Tomas, Nadia Ivanova, Sachika ( sisters To-Tam and To-Nya Ton-Nu) and Michael Venker, had the opportunity of a lifetime and when they presented their collection to a packed house at the always fab Times Center. Project Runway, anyone? Like Project Runway the designers had to create a series of looks to demonstrate their design ability.

With so much buzz and fan fare from loved ones and fashionistas alike, the presentation attracted an insane amount of people. INSANE! They were so many guests– six hundred in fact–that a makeshift area was quickly created with big projection screens to view the show, to deal with the overflow. All of whom were waiting anxiously awaiting for runway to begin and of course see the clothes.

Host Katrina Szish, a style maven and former Instyle correspondent started the show with a special presentation on Supima. She then introduced Candice Huffine and Marquita Pring who announced @Supima twitter campaign to help the people of Haiti. And, special guest supermodel Coca Rocha (who would make me feel bad about myself but I have a strong ego–whew) was on hand to announce the winners; who were judged by Teri Agins, Simon Collins, Chris Frye, Horacio Silva and Buxton Midyette.

Fashion blogger Jon Nubian not only posted his comments—he added a video of the runway finals.

Scallywag & Vagabond had this to say (prefacing its many runway photos):

We are always front row, present and attentive at fashion shows where the designers are just as famous as the clothes that saunter down the runway. We mingle and mix with the who is who and the beautiful, and Tuesday night, much was the same. Scallywag and Vagabond was present as was the creme de la creme, however cotton took center stage. Supima Cotton was the star, and designers although lesser known showed us they were celebrities in their own right.

Supima Cotton held its annual Supima Design Contest and after six finalists were chosen in October, they were given the challenge to create a collection to walk the runway at the Times Square building in front of an esteemed panel of judges. Robin Tomas, Gina DeSilva, Michael Venker, Nadia Ivanova, Heber Sanchez, and Sachika’s To-Tam and To-Nya Ton-Nu (an adorable set of sisters), all took to the stage to debut their pieces after months of arduous sewing (’and hand sewing’ a tired Gina DeSliva exclaimed). Each designer was challenged to create three evening wear pieces and a menswear tee shirt.

The presence of Horacio Silva of The New York Times as one of the Competition’s judges was noticed on The Quest for It. And Planet Ill ran a feature by Erica Abrams headlined “COTTON IS KING AT SUPIMA FASHION SHOW.”

On Monday, What’s Wear’s feature story emphasized the connection between Supima’s Competition and the Supima Collection.

Of course, model-of-the-moment and Supima Award presenter Coco Rocha also attracted attention, with articles and profiles connected to her appearance on Chaos Magazine and Starpulse.