Reading, PA – Two students from Albright’s award-winning fashion program have only one week, from Jan. 20-24, to design garment sets for the 2020 annual Design Challenge competition. Their finished work will be worn at the West Reading Fashion Show, February 29.
Students Paul Cieri ’20 and Ashley Hillegass ’21 will begin the Design Challenge competition with a 40-minute visit to Fabric Mart. A Design Challenge sponsor, Fabric Mart will supply $50 for the designers to buy material. A 20-minute visit to JoAnne Fabrics will round out material selections before the students return to Albright’s Fashion Design Studio.
Cieri and Hillegass will work on their designs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, leaving their work in the Fashion Design Studio after hours, and completing their work by Friday at 5 p.m. Each competitor will create three separate looks that will be entered in the West Reading Fashion Show.
The time crunch can be a great lesson in time management, said past Design Challenge winner, Aliza Shoultz ’19. “Usually I don’t plan out what I do, but for this I had to plan out my day farther in advance,” she said. “We had a 9-5 schedule and I had to figure out what exactly to do in that time.”
Alumna and fashion design faculty member, Sara Nelson ’08, will monitor the competitors throughout the week. An Albright and NYU graduate, Nelson has designed and styled costumes for film and dance performances. Her work has appeared in Men’s Health and Lehigh Valley Style.
