The Scion-sponsored Fashion Feud took place on Monday, May 18, at the Grog Shop in Coventry. Competing for the grand prize of $400 were designers Valerie Mayen and Jillian Young.
Their task: create the best-looking outfit from a variety of material, compiled in “mystery bags,” in one hour. Jillian’s bag consisted of a fabric with pink print, a black-and-white polka dot patterned fabric, white trim with black buttons and the “wild card” – gold trim. Valerie’s bag contained light yellow fabric, white fabric with a bold yellow, orange and brown pattern, white trim with black buttons and the same gold “wild card” trim.
As soon as the competition officially began, the hair and makeup team, Erin Ferguson and Sara Tanno, worked on the models, Melissa Stupczy for Valerie and Jennifer Hodous for Jillian, while the designers began measuring, cutting, ironing and sewing. Audience members mingled at the bar and perused the merchandise available at the Cleveland Clothing Co. sample sale, all while keeping an eye on what the designers were creating.
At the end of the hour, each designer had completed an outfit. Jillian created a pink strapless dress with black-with-white-polka-dots detail, and Valerie designed a gold halter top with a fabric flower embellishment and short patterned skirt. The audience voted for their favorite outfit by cheering and clapping, and although the emcee said that the audience votes seemed to be tied based on volume, he had to declare a winner, and it was Jillian.
Jillian said the event was a lot of fun, even though she had a little trouble with dropping her sewing needles on the dimly-lit stage. The highlight of the night? “Winning!”
You can see more of Jillian’s work on June 13, 2009, at 9 a.m. at Virginia Marti College of Art and Design.
