The Brooklyn Style Foundation is organizing their very first Fashion Accessories Design Competition where contestants will create a fashion accessory that solves a problem relating to our current situation.
This contest is open to high school students all around the country. The impetus to have a competition like this one was partly because of everything that the country is going through right now and adolescents ability to create change.
Rob Price, who has been a board member of the Brooklyn Style Foundation since this summer, said that the founder, Rick Davy, is really focused on supporting the community and building development programs.
“With what has been going on both with the pandemic and the state of everything there are so many challenges that he felt like these young creative talents could answer those challenges with their designs,” Price said.
The Brooklyn Style Foundation’s mission is to assist emerging, underprivileged designers in honing their talent and growing their business, and to provide a professional forum to showcase their creations alongside other emerging designers around the globe. This relates to the contest since emerging designers will be able to showcase their talent in front of judges.
Examples of two possible submissions include jewelry that can take ones temperature or a hand bag that holds hand sanitizer for quick access. The range of accessories can include footwear, eyewear, jewelry and hand bags.
The competition is for the students to design an accessory that is forward looking in the problem it solves as well as being feasible to make.
They wanted submissions to be accessories instead of an overall outfit because this way they can be more targeted to solve problems.
The deadline for students to submit their accessory designs was September 25 and the winners will be announced on October 11.
“It’s a great opportunity for them to win prize money that is being offered as well as having the potential for these (the accessories) to be produced as samples and even have them go down the runway at the Brooklyn Fashion Show,” Price said.
The winners of the competition will be showcased and announced in time for Brooklyn Fashion Week in October. They are planning for the accessories to actually be incorporated and integrated into the Fashion Week in April.
The designs can be conceptual or functional in their execution, but only the fully thought out idea will be submitted for the competition. High school students must have a consenting adult sign the submission (parent, teacher or principal.
Brooklyn Style Foundation’s competition is looking for any budding designer who is in grade nine through 12. They can submit or work on their idea via a sketch, a doodle on a napkin, a prototype or any other medium that is best for them to illustrate the concept that they come up with. Price sees so many possible applicants based on the tools they have available.
“There is such an incredible pool of talent,” Price said. With YouTube and social media, a lot of these young creatures are able to learn and be creative with a lot more resources than 10 years ago. We wanted to welcome all creative potential fashion designers to be able to submit ideas.”
Teenage designers are asked to submit the drawing, rendering, or prototype, with information explaining the chosen design with the rest of the application. The application for the competition can be found at: www.bkstyle.org/hs-accessories-design.
The Brooklyn Style Foundation is a non-profit that was founded back in 2004 as a platform for Brooklyn’s explosive creative talent. Brooklyn Fashion Week has been in existence for about that long as well, showcasing young talent.
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