Apparel | Thursday, September 01, 2011

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The Fourth Annual Supima Design Competition

By Marc Lewkowitz

The fourth annual Supima Design Competition has begun its mad and furious rush to the final event culminating runway fashion show that will be held in New York on September 8 at 1 PM during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

This year the Design Competition has taken a different approach towards the selection of designers who will be competing in the final runway fashion show event.  Working with four top fashion design schools in the U.S., two graduating seniors from each school were selected and charged with creating a capsule collection of five unique women’s evening wear gowns. The challenge for the designers is that each gown must feature one of each type of five fabrics that were provided to them at the start of the competition, which include denim, twill, corduroy, shirting and knits.

The four schools who will be each represented by two designers are detailed below with links back to the respective schools along with introductions to each of the designers for this year’s event.

THE SCHOOLS & DESIGNERS

Fashion Institute of Technology – Amy Lynn Bittner and Jusil Carroll

Pratt Institute – MaRu Jung and Dara Rosen

Rhode Island School of Design – Rachel Pullman and Connie Weng

Savannah College of Art and Design – Marlow Larson and Lorena Cuevas Restrepo

In addition to the top designs that will be featured at the final runway event, the designers will have the opportunity to work and collaborate with industry talent from M.A.C. for makeup and with L’Oréal Professional for hair.

Heading up the L’Oréal team will be celebrity stylist Ron King, the L’Oréal Professional Stylist and Spokesperson, who has worked with notable celebrity’s such as Mariska Hargitay, Katy Perry, Luke Wilson and Lance Armstrong among many others from an extensive “who’s who” list.  Shoes for the runway fashion show will be provided by United Nude. From humble beginnings, a story about a broken heart and add in a partner in the form of a seventh generation member of the Clark’s shoe making dynasty arose United Nude in 2003. Today the shoes are sold in over 40 countries with three flagship stores in Amsterdam, New York and Shanghai.

Finally, a distinguished panel of judges has been assembled to critique and evaluate the final 40 creations and select the final grand prize winner.

DISTINGUISHED JUDGES

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
Founder of the Gilt Groupe

Coco Rocha
Model and Entrepreneur

Kevin Harter
Vice President of Men’s Fashion
Bloomingdale’s

Nicole Miller
Designer

Charlotte Ronson
Designer

The Supima Runway Fashion Show will also be streamed live over the internet so no matter where you are you won’t have to miss it. Make sure you stop by the www.supima.com website to register and get set to watch Supima in the spotlight during one of the premier annual fashion events.