Supima Design Competition gears up for 12th anniversary show

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Aug 30, 2019

Supima, the hyper quality American cotton company, has revealed the names of the finalists and jury for its 12th Annual Supima Design Competition. The final will be staged on the eve of next week’s New York Fashion Week, inside 59 Chelsea Piers on the Hudson River on Thursday evening.

 
The eight finalists feature a cross section of key American fashion and design colleges; while the jury is composed of a novel blend of fashion designers, editors, stylists and innovators.
 
This year’s finalists and their colleges include Linh La, Academy of Art University; Gina (Zinan) Guo, Drexel University; Illene Martoseno, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Ishwari Vijh, Fashion Institute of Technology; Shuxian Kong, Kent State University; Andrew Kwon, Parsons School of Design; Isabel Hajian, Rhode Island School of Designand Yoohyeon Kim, Savannah College of Art and Design. 

Hosted by the noted personal style blogger Blair Eadie, the final will feature a collective runway show of women’s evening wear made exclusively with donated Supima cotton fabrics; all designed by these graduates. The winner will receive a $10,000 check from Supima to kick-start their design career. 
 
Started in 2008, the award was created to give runway exposure to emerging talent; and was modeled on the legendary 1954 Wool Secretariat competition that launched the careers of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld. Since its debut, Supima winners have either launched their own labels; staged official runway show in New York; or began careers with major league brands like Michael Kors, Marchesa, Ralph Lauren and Phillip Lim. 
 
The distinguished panel of 2019 judges includes: fashion editors: Aria Darcella, The Daily Front Row; Avril Graham, Harper’s Bazaar; Faith Cummings, Teen Vogue; Hilary Milnes, Glossy.co;
 Jade Frampton, ShopBazaar; Laurel Pantin, InStyle.com; Mary Alice Stephenson, Glam4Good; Godfrey Deeny, Fashion Network; and Tyler McCall, Fashionista.com.
 
Returning for the fifth year, fashion designer Bibhu Mohapatra will serve as designer mentor; in a jury that is also composed of closet therapist and wardrobe consultant, Carmen Lilly; the founder of New York Fashion Week Fern Mallis; Celestino Couture designers Sergio Guadarrama and Kade Johnson; and Liberty Fairs founding partner Sharifa Murdock.