To get up to speed on the Austin fashion scene, Cheryl assigned for me to cover one of Austin’s biggest fashion events, the annual University of Texas Fashion Show
This year’s show, entitled “Contour,” showcased the senior design students from UT’s school of fashion design. The event was held at the Frank Erwin Center. Security was tighter than when I was here for the Davis Cup!
Guests and judges were members of the Austin glitterati including Ross Bennett currently killing it on NBC’s Fashion Star, Lauren Polt owner of Chicka-d who just scored a national deal with Kohls, Kate Risinger PR Director at By George, Sergio Guadarrama of Celestino, Christina Guy of Tikini Hut and guest of honor Carla McDonald, host of YNN’s Arts Minute and CEO and founder of PR firm Dynabird.
Despite the Austin celebrities in the house, I think for many people one of the most thrilling moments of the evening was when they announced that Brad Goreski, stylist, author of Born to be Brad, star of It’s a Brad Brad World and notoriously former assistant of Rachel Zoe, was in the house! For me this is a HUGE celebrity siting as I love Brad, his styling AND his personal style. I will be hitting up Barnes and Noble for my copy of Born to be Brad today!
On to the important stuff….The show was beautifully produced, entertaining and fantastic. Each designer showed three pieces and additional pieces were shown in bridal, evening and knitted fabric categories.
The collections were influenced from everything from carnival, color blocking, Casablanca, with a bit of kitsch and fantasy mixed in. My personal favorite was a collection from Chandler Hamilton which I would describe as influenced by the Great Gatsby circa now. Janie Kang, who won the overall collection category, had prints that made me want to immediately jet off to the Hamptons. By far I thought the most stunning piece of the evening was a black, cropped, feather jacket from Andrea Salazar. But enough about me, on to the winners:
Knitted Fabric:
Albert Zhou
Rebecca Hoffer
Harrison Koiwai
Katrina Raz
Evening Gown:
Honorable Mention: Stefant Phonthephasone
Winner: Harrison Koiwai
Bridal:
Honorable Mention: Janie Kang
Winner: Katrina Raz
Technical Design:
Honorable Mention: Janie Kang
Winner: Jonathan Shakarisaz
Most Marketable:
Honorable Mention: Chandler Hamilton
Winner: Samantha Kidd
Innovative:
Tie: Katrina Raz and Albert Zhou
Best Collection:
Honorable Mention: Chandler Hamilton
Winner: Janie Kang
In addition to the fabulous show, the University Fashion Group announced a new scholarship program, the Johnathon Shakarisaz Scholarship Fund for the Pursuit of Excellence in Fashion. Jonathan was the winner of the “Most Well Constructed” award at the 2012 Senior show and he promptly handed over award his money to assist next year’s classes in getting the fabrics they need. TexStyles, a local “Designer Fabric Showroom run by a Designer, for Designers and Future Designers,” also donated $3,000 to the scholarship fund in furtherance of more fabric choices for Austin’s next top designers!
Congrats to all the winners and participants and good luck after graduation! The Austin fashion community is rooting for you and we can’t wait to see where the road takes you!
Watch the UT Fashion show again from our LIVE! Webcast. Enjoy!
Live stream by Ustream