Parsons, Lord & Taylor Team Up For Prom Contest

On November 5, Lord and Taylor held its shopping event “Love at First Sight” which allowed guests to shop at 20% off, and be entertained with a flow of cocktails, a performance by Lisa Lisa, and a fashion show of Parsons Alumni. Lord and Taylor held an open call to Parsons alumni to design a dress geared at a younger consumer, which would be reproduced and sold by the department store. Ten lucky finalists were given $100 in seed money to create their garment. The parameters were: 80’s inspired edgy chic, and prom, to be retailed for about $250.00. The dresses were showcased down a runway that Thursday evening on Lord and Taylor’s third floor and were judged by an esteemed judging panel including fashion photographer Nigel Barker.

The winner for the evening was Samantha Sleeper – a recent graduate of the BFA program. Samantha’s inspiration came from the rings of Saturn, and the Cassini division in the rings. On her garment, she wanted to embody Saturn’s rings with the repetition of folds, and to mimic the lines of the rings around the body.

Her personal style played in by having something unique, edgy, and sexy but not scandalous. The “Samantha Sleeper” woman is one who is confident, and really appreciates the construction and playfulness of fabric in a garment. Her ideal woman for this particular black organza silk and mesh mixed dress is stunning style icon Daphne Guiness. Her reaction minutes after she was announced the winner was: “ I’ve always been a bridesmaid, never the bride – tonight is my night – I’m finally the bride!

Here’s a breakdown on a few of the other finalists:
First Runner Up – The Trapeze Romper
Name: Nicki Cozzolino BFA Parsons 2009
Hometown: New Jersey
Inspiration: Flowy, sexy and lightweight fabrics, and the playfulness of youth with a fashion inspiration of Dries Von Noten.  This silk charmeuse, silk jacquard and ribbon dress is for any woman who has personality and likes to flirt with sexy innocence.

Second Runner Up:
Name: Hannah Haeinlee
Hometown: Korea
Inspiration: 80s lime-light, Christian Lacroix
Hannah’s love of women’s collarbones, shoulders and necklines, is highlighted her in piece, and with a poof to lengthen the legs, she brings her own femininity to her dress. Hannah’s three words to describe her garment for the evening: Eye Catching, Flattering, and Fun.

Other Finalists:
Name: Kyung Wang - Fashion Studies AAS 2007
Hometown: Korea
Inspiration: BWN Welt building in Germany – to capture its essence at night, and adding a splash of the blue skies across the dress. Kyung personally loves starting with a traditional style and deconstructing them to make it more modern, edgy and fashion forward. With this particular piece, Kyung used twisted drapery having the fabric fall and wrap around the body.  While hoping to one day follow in the footsteps of Balenciaga, Kyung’s ideal woman for his design would be a curator in Chelsea, New York.

Name: Sarah Eunwoung Choi
Hometown: Orange County, California
Inspiration: Art Deco period and the use of bold colors, the saffron spice color is what really captured her attention. Sarah wanted her dress to be a bit more daring than the average gown. Slightly reminiscent of a Michael Kors RTW 08 piece we saw, Sarah spices things up with a dramatic thigh- high front and a long flowing back, she brings her personal style with clean and simple lines and some volume to add dramatics. Although she feels any confident woman ranging from 16-40 could pull off this bold but beautiful dress, she would love to see Kate Hudson her designs.