Designers choose condoms at first meeting for condom couture fashion show

CCAD students often work with a variety of unusual material and face multiple design challenges and for 14 students participating in Planned Parenthood’s Condom Couture Fashion Show this latest project is no different.

Each students was given 800 condoms to use in an original clothing design that will be modeled by a community leader in a fashion show on Oct. 17.

During the show the designers will be judged by local boutique owner Maren Roth, menswear designer David Swetman, and CCAD instructor Esther Chung. The garments and designs will be graded on theme, color, creativity, attractiveness, originality, technique, and concept.

The top three winners will receive scholarship money; first place is awarded $1000, and second and third $500.

This will be the second year Bridgette Stevens a junior in Fashion Design, has competed in the fashion show.

Last year Stevens designed a truly couture one-of-a-kind dress that included a matching umbrella. The ensemble incorporated hot pink, black, and white condoms, creating a zebra print pattern.

Student Bridgette Stevens structure for a hat as part of the condom couture fashion show

“Last year I spent way too much time perfecting my garment,” Stevens said. “This year I will again have a very couture garment. I am doing a hot pink gown in organza, so it will be transparent. I will hand-stitch the condoms on and gather them across the dress, it will be very sexy. I am also going to have a couture hat to complete the look.”

Although Stevens has her plan all worked out, she remembers, from last year, that condoms are not an easy material to work with by any means.

“The hardest part about working with this material is thinking through how you want your design to come across,” Stevens said. “Second is the application; it is really difficult to work with these latex critters—they don’t always want to cooperate.”

Competing along with Stevens will be freshmen Katherine Benson, Kaylene  Biddle, Diana Chung, and Kailey Rinder; Fashion Design sophomores Elaine Hunt and Caroll Kern; Illustration sophomore Samantha Russel; Fashion Design juniors Kristain England, Marquis Engle, and Julie Ward; Fashion Design seniors Leah Kennedy and Krista Sison; and Interior Design senior Jocelyn Williams.

“We’re thrilled to host such a creative way to raise awareness about prevention,” said Stephanie Kight, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio. “Previous years’ designs have been stunning…It’s exciting to see designers transform condoms into wearable art.”

Read about last year’s event here, and find out more information about the event and how to attend here.

Click to see video.

Sound the alarms! The first video is up! What a relief.

After months of editing, making changes, and finishing touches, the Edward Buchanan interview is  live. It was a great learning experience.

The problems we encountered along the way weren’t as extreme as the James Alicia piece (where we recorded over the footage from one camera), but we had our fair share. Storytelling was my biggest concern, and then the editing, and finally the stylizing.

I am excited to share with you the story of his success. He was so fun to interview, and it was truly inspiring. While I am not a fashion major, he gave me hope for my future, and made me appreciate my school a whole lot more. Ed is an exciting person, and after months of working on four minutes of footage, I never got bored of his voice.

Well, I hope you enjoy the video as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Expect a couple more videos in the next few months!

Edward Buchanan's Sansovino6

I’m just going to come out and say it: I lust after Edward Buchanan’s Sansovino6 line. I want to touch it, feel it, WEAR it.

The luxurious knitwear is chic and cutting-edge style, but wearable. I imagine myself draped in Sansovino6 and sitting sipping coffee on a sidewalk in Milano, or hanging out with friends drinking a glass of wine in the Short North.

Don’t get me wrong, I have fallen in love with looks I’ve seen on runways in Europe and the US, but to imagine myself in them, I have to imagine a fictional character to be and a fantastic world to place myself in. (As much as I fantasize about being so, I am not an international spy nor the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland.)

Edward’s designs are exquisite and, well, of this world. A really good part of this world.

Edward Buchanan, the 2010 Alumni Fashion Icon Awardee

Edward is like that too, which is probably one of the reasons international brands and folks like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs trust him as a fashion consultant.

I have gotten to know him the 21^st century way—we are friends on facebook, which is a very convenient way to catch someone who is one day in his studio in Milano, and the next showing at Fashion Week in Paris.

I tried to hook him up with another friend, the noted fashion photographer Ed Kavishe, who is publisher and CEO of Fashion Wire Press, when I thought both would be in Paris at Fashion Week. Ed K was indeed there, photographing the runways for Paris Haute Couture Week; Edward B was in Milano getting ready to show his collection in Paris Ready-to-Wear Week, which happens a different week altogether. Silly me.

Edward Buchanan's Sansovino6

At least I managed to hook them up through facebook, and they’ll meet at the CCAD Senior Fashion Show on May 8, when Edward receives the 2010 CCAD Alumni Fashion Icon Award. Oh well, if not Paris, Columbus.

A little about Ed:

Edward Buchanan enrolled at CCAD in 1988 to study retail advertising and fashion illustration. After CCAD, Buchanan moved to New York City in 1992 to further pursue his dreams of becoming a fashion designer.

Early in his career, he worked with prestigious clothing lines Giorgio Armani, Calvin Klein, J.Crew, and Michael Kors. In 1995, luxury accessories line Bottega Veneta hired Edward as its design director. He added knitwear and leather goods to the brand and launched the line into the Italian, Japanese, and American markets.

In 2001, Buchanan partnered with fellow Bottega Veneta designer Manuela Morin to release their first independent line, LEFLESH, fusing knitwear and ready-to-wear garments with handbags and shoes, a look that brought worldwide success to both Buchanan and the brand.

Edward’s most recent undertaking is the fall/winter 2010/2011 collection for Sansovino6 a line he launched in 2003. Sansovino6 is sold in Milan, Paris, Berlin, and Tokyo boutiques.

Edward Buchanan's Sansovino6

I hope you get to meet Edward at the CCAD Senior Fashion Show. If you don’t have your tickets yet, get on it and buy them online at www.ccad.edu/fashion.

And be sure to check in for next week’s blog, when Miss Amanda describes the arduous task of getting a makeover—come on folks—she had to experience first hand what the models go through to get ready for the runway!

Cheers,

Melissa

]]> http://www.ccad.edu/blog/2010/03/there%e2%80%99s-a-reason-we%e2%80%99re-giving-him-the-fashion-icon-award/feed/ 2 http://www.ccad.edu/blog/2010/02/the-making-of-a-fashion-show/ http://www.ccad.edu/blog/2010/02/the-making-of-a-fashion-show/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:45:58 +0000 Lacey Luce http://www.ccad.edu/blog/?p=12 by Lacey Luce

Origins: CCAD's 2010 Fashion Show

Welcome! You have entered the CCAD Fashion Show blog, your backstage pass to our runway event (think New York fashion week without the travel).

Leading up to the May 8. 2010 spectacular, we’ll take you behind the scenes for an insider’s look at  how our spectacular fashion show event is pieced together.

Ever wonder what exactly goes into a fashion photo shoot? You may be surprised. Who decides which garments make it to the runway? How do designers get from sketch to finished piece? What’s the story behind “Origins”? How do models manage to walk in those heels without stumbling and becoming fashion road kill? We’ll cover that and more.

Who are we and why are we doing this?

Well to answer the first question: there will be three of us writing, me (Lacey Luce), Melissa Ricksecker, and Amanda Fondriest—think of us as the Destiny’s Child of writing. We’ll have a run of hits, then Melissa will go off on a solo career leaving Amanda and I to look fondly upon our fashion show blogging days.

We do this because it’s fun. Hindsight being 20/20, we realized last year that all the stuff leading up to the show is almost as cool as the show itself. So, this year we are inviting you to share in the fun.

If you (like us) are not an expert in fashion design, photography, event planning, hair styling, make up, etc.; and if, like us, you find the whole crazy process fascinating—then, follow us and you’ll get to peak behind the curtain and see who’s applying the double-stick dress tape.

Subscribe to this blog, follow us on Twitter, and become a fan of our Facebook page—then buckle in, it’s gonna be a helluva ride.

Oh, and don’t forget to post your comments; this blog thing is a two-way street you know.

For more on the May 8 Senior Fashion show check out the event page www.ccad.edu/fashion.