Fashion week to feature Homewood students’ designs

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Birmingham Fashion Week

Ashley Lewis will be one step closer to designing her own clothing line when her designs walk the runway at Birmingham Fashion Week this month. 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. 

“I am looking forward to seeing the garments finished and on the runway,” she said. “It’s something that not every designer gets to experience, getting to see them come to life.”

Lewis, the daughter of Connie Lewis and Sylvia Denise Lewis, lived in Homewood while working as an interior designer after college until beginning her master’s degree.

In order to be considered for the Emerging Designer competition, each applicant submitted at least eight clothing sketches, create a digital mood board that describes what inspired each design and underwent in-person interview sessions with a team of judges. 

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 will be 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. 

A select number of contestants will advance to the final round of the competition to showcase their design on the Birmingham Fashion Week runway Thursday, May 7 and Friday, May 8. In addition to their initial runway look, the design students selected to progress to the next round will also be required to create a second look from recycled Buffalo Rock Co. materials to walk the runway and compete for the sought-after title of Birmingham Fashion Week’s Rising Design Star. 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 Star Semifinalists

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. 

Rigdon Hendrix 

Age 14, Homeschooled

Rigdon went searching in car junkyards and body shops for materials for his transportation-themed design. He cut a car tire for straps and used car shades, chicken wire, duct tape, rubber and staples to create the look. When the dress hits the runway, it will also feature white and red LED lights on the wings and the chest.

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