Fashion Students Lead a National Field Vying to Head to Paris

Hundreds of U.S. fashion students from 21 universities and colleges sent their best design ideas to New York’s Parsons School of Design in the first leg of a long race that will send a handful to Paris at the end of the year for the prestigious International Competition of Young Fashion Designers. 

When the national jury of design educators recently picked those candidates who would go on to the U.S. finals in October, the University of Cincinnati emerged as the front runner, with more students chosen as finalists than any other school.

Eleven UC students qualified as finalists as compared to nine from Parsons even though UC actually had fewer overall entrants.  The highest number of finalists from any other school was four. 

From among all the participating  schools, 44 U.S. fashion finalists in addition to 15 accessory finalists were selected – students who will now turn their design ideas into reality.

The students’ designs will be judged in a runway fashion competition on October 31, 2003.  Those judged the best – 10 fashion finalists and 5 accessory finalists – in the runway event will travel to Paris in December to compete against their peers from Europe and Asia. 

“This is the most prestigious undergraduate competition in the U.S. and internationally,” explained competition organizer Nathalie Doucet, UC assistant professor of fashion design and president of the Arts of Fashion Foundation, sponsoring body of the U.S. finals.  “The climbing number of UC finalists each year [last year, six students represented UC] shows the increasing professionalism among our preparation courses and among our students, especially when you consider that no UC faculty served as judges this year.”

One of the finalists, Amy Ferrell, said she was a little surprised to win because of the large number of entrants this year.  “The competition is becoming more well known, and so, there’s more competition between the schools,” she explained, adding, “Competition makes for more creative ideas among all the entrants.  That’s the best part for me, seeing all the creative ideas from everyone and everyone’s process of design.”

Almost all the UC College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning students prepared for the competition in the “Design Communication I” or the “Fashion Design II” courses taught by Doucet.  The 11 UC fashion finalists and two accessory finalists are:

• Ryan Fabel, junior, of Hyde Park
• Cathleen Perrin, junior, of Youngstown, Oh.
• Jessica Wagner, pre-junior, of Madeira (a fashion finalist and the top finalist in the accessory category)
• Lisa Bruemmer, pre-junior, of Bridgetown, (3rd top fashion finalist among all entrants)
• Amy Ferrell, pre-junior, of Waterloo, Iowa, (a finalist in both the fashion and accessory categories)
• Akarasun Seanglai, pre-junior, of Bangkok, Thailand
• Lindsey Commons, pre-junior, of Montgomery (in Cincinnati)
• Nancy Friedman, pre-junior, of Canton, Oh.
• Adrianne Gammie, sophomore, of Berlin Heights, Oh.
• Jessica Earley, sophomore, of Delhi Township
• Dong Eun Kim, freshman, of Korea

The schools participating in the U.S. portion of the international competition, with its theme of “Tradition and Modernity,” are:

• University of Cincinnati
•  Art Institute of Chicago
• California State Northridge University
• Columbia College, Chicago
• Cornell University 
• Drexel University, Philadelphia
• Houston Community College
• International Fine Arts College, Florida
• Iowa State University 
• Kent State University, Ohio
• Marist College, New York 
• Marymount University, Virginia
• Nassau Community College, New York 
• Norfolk State University, Virginia
• Oklahoma State University 
• Parsons School of Design
• University of Alabama 
• University of Delaware
• Miami International University of Art & Design 
• School of Design, Boston
• Harper College, Palatine, Il.