Bullard-Havens Tech Students Take Top Spots in Fashion Competition

And the winner is…tears of joy streamed down high school student’s faces as Full Frontal Fashion host James Aguiar named the winners of Lord & Taylor Westchester and Stamford’s Fashion in the Bag design on Thursday, October 25, 2007 at the café in the Stamford Lord and Taylor.  Winning designs included a dress entitled “Classy Taxi” designed by students from Bullard-Havens Technical High School of Bridgeport. The team was composed of Ashante Davis, Sanejha Muhammad, Raven Summerville, and Shayla Jeffers. Another team of Bullard-Havens students (Natasha James, Christina Mack, Shaunice Edwards, Sione Hardison, Mandesha Bendolph, Denisha Broadnax, and Latrice Bonner) received a 2nd place prize for their "Hood Lace"entry.

To celebrate the launch of their new rebranded shopping bag, Lord and Taylor challenged students to a “project runway” style contest.  Customers voted on their favorite fashions, which were displayed for two weeks in the Westchester and Stamford Lord and Taylor stores.  Student conceived and constructed designs included evening gowns, sandals, hats, doggy carriers and various ready-to-wear clothing made out of the new white, sunrise orange and Lord and Taylor signature logo shopping bags.

The official judging took place in Stamford and featured celebrity judges James Aguiar, host of the Emmy nominated program, Full Frontal Fashion; Melissa C. Walker, author of teen book, Violet on the Runway and former ELLEgirl Features Editor and Seventeen Prom Editor; Larry Stemmerman, Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Executive, and President/Co-founder of Sweetface Fashions, which branded J Lo; Mt. Kisco Fashion Designer Nova Lorraine; and Jene Luciani, Fashion Columnist for The Westchester WAG.

Students from participating high schools were given a directive to create fashion looks out of the new Lord & Taylor bags. Made of high-quality sophisticated bright white and bearing the renowned script logo in their center, the rebranded bags have an orange/yellow interior.

“We were amazed at the detail and quality of the work that these students produced out of our beautiful new shopping bags,” states Judy Lederman, PR Manager, upstate New York and Connecticut,  “There is no doubt that many of these young and talented students will be sought-after fashion designers in the not-too-distant future.”

Every student received a “FUTURE FASHION DESIGNER” certificate from Lord & Taylor for participating in the event. Lord & Taylor is planning on taking both teams to New York to tour the campus, gallery and museum of FIT (FASHION INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY).

1st Place team - "Classy Taxi"

2nd place team- "Hood Lace" entry