STITCH 2010

This year I participated in a fun industry event called, STITCH. Myself and 6 other Harrington Alumni worked together to create an awesome entry for this years show. We were asked really late in the game by Kimball Office, an office furniture company if they could sponsor a team of alumni for this event. We accepted the challenge and met multiple times in only a couple weeks to conceptualize, design, and finally sew and create the dress. It was SO much fun. We had a great team! Our dress came out SOOO neat and our makeup and hair concept was just perfect. We got so many compliments on our entry, ours was clearly one of the most well-made and interesting garments on the runway. We found out later that we were only ONE point away from winning the coveted "Best in Show" Award. Oh well! We knew who the real winner was! Ours was AWESOME!

Here's the scoop on the event...
STITCH is IIDA-Illinois' biggest event that pairs Chicago's most talented Designers with industry manufacturers to create one-of a kind, wearable garments for the runway show of the year. The theme this year was "A STITCH in Time: Design for a Decade." So the idea was to take any time period or decade and create a conceptual (not literal) interpretation of anything from that decade or representing the entire decade.
The Harrington Alumni team created a wearable garment for our model out of Kimball Office's exclusive Maharam fabric.

Our official concept was:
Victorian Illusion. Inspired by illusion, transformation, and 1880's Victorian style.
Magic makes something out of nothing -- it transforms,
Transformation is mysterious -- or is it simply an illusion?

More about our design... Victorian fashion was characterized by large collars and bustles, corsets, tiny waists, and the use of birds and feathers in their hats and hair accessories. Magic was also experiencing its "golden age" due to the advancements in technology. many magicians created the illusion of pulling things out of their top hats or making birds disappear. Our model, Enza, emerged from a large magicians top hat (which we also created), she revealed herself by pulling the hat down. She emeged....a modern version of a Victorian "bird", complete with feathers in the hair, on her eyelashes, and feather-like pieces of fabric on the skirt of her dress. She walked to the song, "I Can Transform Ya" by Chris Brown

Here is the video that I made out of all the photos and video that myself and everyone else took. It was SOOOO fun!  You can watch it here (small) or click the link below to watch it large! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sul5f3qAnY Turn up your speakers and watch in 480p for best quality!!