Fashion show highlights designs and skills of VCUQatar students

Collections by students from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar (VCUQatar)’s Fashion Design programme were on display during ‘Applique’, the two-day fashion show recently hosted by Salam Stores at The Gate Mall. The show, which featured the collections of 22 sophomore, junior and senior fashion students, was opened by Sandra Wilkins, VCUQatar’s chair of Fashion Design. The students had to submit their designs to a jury of fashion experts who are strong supporters of VCUQatar’s fashion design programme, and who would select the best designs for the show. “Only one garment was eliminated during this year’s jury selection, which speaks to the quality of the clothes,” said Prof Wilkins, explaining that such an occurrence was highly unusual. Also presenting their designs at ‘Appliqué’ were several students from the fashion design programme from the home campus from Richmond, Virginia. Ahmed El Sayed, the co-founder of House of Nomad and a VCUQatar alumnus, was the guest designer for the show, where his most recent collection was presented to great acclaim. The fashion show allowed the students to be judged by experienced jury members who have a thorough knowledge of the fashion industry.The emphasis throughout was one of turning creative concepts into ready-to-wear pieces for the runway, which not only had to be beautiful, but also wearable and above all marketable. Fashion professionals, especially retailers are regularly invited each year to review the collections and concepts, and give their expert advice to the students.The Salam Fashion Award was presented to Radheya Visperas. The award includes mentoring in the development and design of two bespoke collections, which will be sold exclusively within a dedicated space in Salam Stores, Doha. The W Doha Award went to Sarah al-Abdulghani and the Glam award to Sarah al-Abdulghani and Samyah Abou Rahma.VCUQatar’s Golden Needle Award, which goes to the best senior collection, was awarded to Samyah Abou Rahma.The award for Most Outstanding Junior Collection went to Fatima al-Khulaifi, while the award for Most Outstanding Sophomore Collection was bagged by Heidi Rashad. Recipients of other awards are Visperas – Outstanding Senior with Highest GPA, Alia al-Sowaidi – Outstanding Junior with Highest GPA, Sreehitha Saini – Outstanding Junior with Highest GPA and Rashad – Outstanding Sophomore with Highest GPA.The Guest Designer Award went to El Sayed from House of Nomad. Awards were also given to Deborah Sedlacek, Joshua Bigelow, Skyler Crawford and Lydia Critchfield from Virginia Commonwealth University’s home campus in Richmond for their Senior Collections, which were shown at the event. Five VCUQatar students will have their collections shown at the home campus annual fashion show, which will take place on May 10.