The winning designs of the 2004 “Stretch to the Future” Design Scholarship
Competition sponsored by RadiciSpandex
Corporation were revealed May 19 during the year-end fashion show at
Manhattan’s High School of Fashion Industries (HSFI). RadiciSpandex Corp. CEO
Rob Rebello presented scholarship awards to the seven student winners of this
year’s competition, which featured the participation of noted designer Nicole
Miller as the Designer Judge and Honoree. Ms. Miller received RadiciSpandex
Corp.’s “Stretch to the Future” Award on stage from RadiciSpandex Corp. sales
representative Kim Henley.
This
year’s competition included 63 garments submitted in seven categories ranging
from lingerie to eveningwear. Fabric companies that donated stretch fabrics
containing RadiciSpandex fiber include Cyberknit/Paul Gottlieb, Darlington
Fabrics, Deer Creek, Ge-ray, Green Textiles, H. Warshow & Sons, Hornwood & Lee
Fashion Fabrics, McMurray Fabrics, Milliken & Co., Native Textiles and Symphony
Fabrics.
Taking
top honors for Grand Prize, Eveningwear and Fantasy was Senior Xiao Jing Dong,
a Manhattan resident who won a total of $1,500. Dong’s Grand Prize-winning
design, which also won the eveningwear category, was a black evening gown made
of mesh fabric donated by H. Warshow & Sons. In contrast, her Fantasy design was
a white gown, also in H. Warshow fabric, with an asymmetric, ruffled hemline
and a bustier bodice adorned with safety pins in front. Dong is a “Stretch to
the Future” veteran, having won the prizes for menswear and lingerie last year.
The First Prize was shared by seniors Alfonsina Jimenez and Geuri De La Rosa,
both residents of the Bronx, for a daringly low-cut evening gown in navy stretch
fabric from Native Textiles. Jimenez designed the garment and De La Rosa was its
constructor. Anthony Hendrickson, a senior from The Bronx, won the
Second Prize and Childrenswear categories for a striking minidress in white
Milliken fabric spray-painted graffiti-style, and a multi-colored girl’s dress
in striped fabric from Symphony Fabrics, respectively.
In Lingerie, twelfth-grader Lennys Adames of the Bronx emerged victorious
for her two-piece design featuring a strapless bandeau top and matching panty
with frilled mini-skirt in hot pink fabric from Darlington Fabrics trimmed in a
textured black fabric by H. Warshow & Sons. The Women’s Sportswear Prize went to
eleventh-grader Danielle Dwomoh-Piper, also of the Bronx, for a flirty
strapless top and pleated mini-skirt in fabrics from Milliken and Darlington.
Brooklyn resident Juan Vargas, another previous “Stretch to the Future” winner,
earned the top prizes in Menswear and Swimwear. Vargas’s menswear garment showed
a preppy flair with a black-and-gray striped polo shirt in fabric from Ge-Ray
and pants in solid black fabric from Deer Creek Fabrics. His swimwear design was
a trendy black one-piece with daring cutouts in a solid black fabric from
Darlington.
In addition to Nicole Miller, this year’s judging panel consisted of experts from
the worlds of fashion editorial and textiles --- Marilise Gavenas, Textiles
Editor, DNR; Daniela Gilbert, Textiles Fashion Editor, WWD;
Robert Haynes Peterson, Contributing Editor, Body Apparel; Paul
Heron, Vice President, Vanity Fair Intimates; Tara McBratney, Fashion
Director, CosmoGirl!; Vicky McGarry, Fashion Director,
Men’s Journal; and Kim Williams, Intimate Apparel Product Manager,
McMurray Fabrics. Faculty from HSFI and RadiciSpandex Sales
Representative Kim Henley rounded out the panel.
Established in 1999, the “Stretch to the Future” Design
Scholarship Competition is an integral element of the HSFI annual Fashion Show
that fosters the creative development of design students. It educates them about
the technical aspects of garment construction using fashion fabrics containing a
highly technical fiber such as elastane produced by RadiciSpandex Corp., which
is based in Fall River, MA, and has manufacturing facilities in North Carolina
and Alabama.
Every year, RadiciSpandex Corp. invites a high-profile designer to lead a panel of
apparel industry experts in the judging of the students’ designs. Previous
recipients of this honor include Betsey Johnson, Steve Madden, Nanette Lepore,
Dana Buchman and John Varvatos.
Located in the heart of Manhattan’s Chelsea district,
HSFI was founded in 1926 and is the only school in the eastern United States
that fully integrates a high school degree program with a fashion industry
curriculum. The student body is comprised of residents from all New York City
boroughs.
RadiciSpandex Corp. is a U.S. subsidiary of THE RADICI GROUP, a multi-billion
dollar entity based in Italy that employs 9,000 employees in 68 factories
worldwide. The company is a multi-national, multi-ethnic industry player whose
integrated business activities range from synthetic fibers to chemicals,
plastics, packaging and textile machinery. Synthetic fibers (nylon, polyester,
polypropylene and spandex/elastane) are the core activity of the group. |