Student designs grace runway during fashion week
Ashley Lewis' designs walked the runway just after those of several middle school and high school students' at Birmingham Fashion Week on Thursday. She is one of 16 college or post-graduate students competing in the 2015 Emerging Designer Competition May 7-9.
The 2005 Homewood High School graduate is now working on her MFA in fashion design at Savannah College of Art and Design.
She calls her aesthetic “glamorous sophistication” and said it is characterized by a mix of hard and soft textures.
The collection at fashion week is in the style of Medieval Romanticism, mixing Romantic painting styles with flowing gowns from the Medieval period. Taking inspiration from Victor and Roff, her collection of dresses all have similar silhouette styles with different details to individualize them. On them, some floral prints will be three-dimensional.
The winner will announced during Saturday’s runway finale and receive a grand prize package including a guaranteed spot at BFW 2016’s runway show, a television appearance, editorial piece, photo shoot with a BFW professional photographer including hair and makeup, as well as a $1,000 scholarship.
Also on the runway during fashion week were several Rising Design Star semifinalists from Homewood. Each contestant crafted a garment representing one of Alabama’s major industries (agriculture, livestock, transportation, technology, fishing, forestry and mining) with recycled or alternative materials such as glue, staples, tape, safety pins and paper clips. These garments were on display at the Birmingham Museum of Art through April 26.
Semifinalists will move on to the final round of judging during the finale runway show on Saturday, May 9, with the winner will be announced that evening and awarded a $500 scholarship.
Rising Design Stars on the Runway
Laylah Burrello
Age 12, Homewood Middle School
Inspired by her mom’s work with therapeutic horses at the Red Barn, Laylah modge podged pictures from horses magazines to create a skirt beneath a halter-top made of 50 feet of nylon rope.
To complete the look, she made a belt using pieces of horse tact and a horseshoe for an accent.
Madeline Kline
Age 12, Homewood Middle School
Madeline took apart old PCs to create her technology-themed design. On top of a base made of plastic bags and duct tape, she cut circuit boards into scale shapes and pasted them on tiers to create the skirt. For the top, she dissembled old keyboards and arranged the keys. Beneath, she used copper wire and computer wire to create details at the waist of the ensemble.
Camille Colter
Age 15, Homewood High School
Alabama most populous fish, the large mouth bass, provided design inspiration for Camille. She made scales out of sequins on top of a painting sheeting to form a skirt. The shape is meant to look like a mermaid, complete with a seashell top and fish net around the neck, using duct tape to hold it all together. Camille enjoys art and designing fashion sketches and hopes to major in fashion design.
Matt Pierce
Age 14, Homewood Middle School