Saturday, April 28th
It was an intimate setting for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics (FAST) benefit and fashion show, held at the Paul Hotel in NYC.
Joanne Marcella, the Executive Producer, greeted me and my colleague, and led us to the two contestants for this year’s competition. The theme was the 1920’s. The goal was to design a garment that was the Bee’s Knees. The contestants were tasked with explaining their creative process and convincing us that their garment depicted the roaring twenties in all of its complexity. Fashion is influenced by the society that surrounds it. The 1920’s was an era of social change, jazz, the suffrage moment, hemlines were rising and florals and soft pastels were the rage and so I was very curious to see what these contestants brought to the table. As Coco Chanel explains:
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
The contestants Kyle Denman and Hawwaa Ibrahim, both brought their “A” game to the competition. They individually explained to us what the competition meant to them and how they came up with their ideas.
They both did a fantastic job connecting their creative process and designs to the 1920’s era. Yet, there could only be one winner and after much deliberation, we choose Kyle Denman. Kyle’s design, presentation, and creative process represented the roaring twenties. The dress resembled an overflowing wineglass. In addition to the fabric and fit, the dress was a sharp contrast to the previous Victorian era. The dress reflected a time of prosperity, elegance, risk and clearly resembled the exotic art deco fashion of the 1920’s.
Congratulations Kyle and we look forward to featuring your design in future issues of i-Fashion Magazine.