Project Earth Day Fashion Show, 2009: Student Competition

The first part of the Project Earth Day Fashion show included the student competition, which was stronger this year than ever! I was really impressed with the range of design aesthetics and materials used. Colors, neutrals, textures, patterns; they were all on display, and all Earth-friendly too.

Judges for the competition included Drew Becher, Executive Director of the New York Restoration Project, Janine James, Founder and Creative Director of design think tank, The Moderns, John Schroeter, President and CEO of Applied Textiles, and Josh Dorfman, The Lazy Environmentalist himself. Scroll down for all the entries, and then the winning design.

How did they judge? According to Inhabitat: “Judges, clipboards in hand, were asked to rate student designs on Creativity & Concept (50%), Technical Execution (25%), and Eco Design Principles Checklist (25%). We thought it was quite clever that the Eco Design Principles portion included criteria such as Sustainable “Sites”, Energy and Atmosphere and Innovation in Design, mimicking the checklist that sponsor USGBC NY uses for LEED certification of buildings!”

The first look in the student competition- starting it off with a visual BANG!

First place winner of the student competition, Stacy Longo of FIT.

Detail of the hand-knit cotton yarn top from the winning design by Stacy Longo

Third-place winner of the student competition, Erika Schuster of the Fashion Institute of Technology

An honorable mention went to Theresa Chan from Connecticut College- This was actually my fave design!

All images by Starre Vartan