So many things have been going on lately in between all the Fashion Week craziness! Right before Fashion Week started, I was very honored to be selected as a judge for the fashion and jewelry division of the Scholastic Awards for Arts and Writing. It’s such a great award program because it’s the only national program that showcases children with artistic talent, not just athletic or intellect abilities. Needless to say, I was really blown away by the level of talent and creativity from all the students. It was hard to decide who would move forward, but luckily I had some great help from my fellow two judges—one a head designer at Natori and the other a head at FIT—and I felt extremely confident in our choices! It’s great to see students take an interest in fashion at such a young age. I was really into art in high school, and I did a little sewing on the side, but I really didn’t learn garment construction until college. It would have been so helpful if I’d started a little younger, so I was really impressed at the students’ level of skill. I would recommend taking sewing classes in high school to any student that has any interest in going in fashion.

I also headed down to Philadelphia the week after Fashion Week to do a segment on Good Day Philadelphia and judge a competition for Rowenta at Drexel University. The competition was inspired by a yet-to-be-released iron, and I can’t wait to share all the designs with you as soon as it becomes available! Again, I was really inspired by the student’s talent. The Good Day Philadelphia segment was a lot of fun but also a little stressful. Live television is never “relaxed,” especially when you have a limited amount of time! The whole segment idea was about making small alterations to an old bridesmaid dress you have to make it wearable for future events. Luckily, I got to start out with a cute bridesmaid dress, but you can take these tips and apply them to any formal dress—prom, homecoming, etc.—you own, no matter how horrible! The three main tips that I recommend are adding straps, adding a belt, and shortening the hem. Adding the straps makes the garment a little less dressy and a lot more functional. The belt will break up the dress and hide the waist ruching that is usually very common in those times of dresses. Shortening the hem keeps it younger, and you can also set the length at a height that is flattering to your legs. I would recommend using a Rowenta steam station as a one stop shop because it had a powerful iron for when your are setting the hem but also has the steam capabilities that is needed for the material of the dress. Watch the Good Day Philadelphia segment below! The Reinvention Of The Bridesmaid Dress: MyFoxPHILLY.com Read all Althea’s posts here!