PhilaU Fashion Design students will have red dresses modeled at AHA Go Red for Women event
Three Fashion Design students have won this year’s red dress competition sponsored by the American Heart Association and will have their fabulous red dresses modeled at the 5th annual Go Red for Women luncheon and fundraiser next month.
In the meantime, the striking scarlet designs of Krystie Kocsi, Carrie Hansen and Andjela Vukancic will be prominently displayed in a window at the Macy’s Center City store along the 1300 block of Chestnut Street.
Kocsi, a junior, designed the top winning dress for the AHA’s Red Dress Design Contest, which also earned her an internship this summer with Urban Outfitters, Inc., the Philadelphia-based apparel company that also includes Anthropologie and Free People. Kocsi’s design, inspired by the shape of a tulip, included hand-made rosettes on crinkled, poly-silk fabric that she used to represent fine-textured flower petals.
Vukancic, a senior, designed a Grecian-inspired chiffon short dress, and Carrie Hansen, a junior, updated a traditional Japanese print and silhouette and used hand-painted and hand-stitched details for her cotton organdy layers designed to evoke the image of fans.
“I want to give special thanks to the fashion professors and students at Philadelphia University for supporting this effort,” Rosemary Loverdi, attorney and co-chair of the Go Red corporate committee, said at a May 6 press conference at Macy’s to unveil the red dress window. “These students really do represent the talent this institution is world-renowned for producing.”
The Philadelphia Go Red for Women luncheon and the red dress competition are designed to raise awareness of heart disease in women and raise funds for research and prevention. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America, according to the AHA. Last year’s luncheon and fashion show was attended by 675 people and raised $540,000.
The three winning designs were chosen from a field of 18 submitted by area design students last month. The dresses will be modeled at the Philadelphia Go Red for Women luncheon on June 6 at the Park Hyatt at the Bellevue. For more information, go to www.goredforwomen.org or call 610-234-2401.
For the competition, students had to design an outfit that a Hollywood star could wear on the red carpet. Lyddane’s design was inspired by actress Helena Bonham Carter’s unique look and spirit. Philadelphia University Fashion Design students Shannan Carlino and Jessica Gardner also were selected as finalists in the competition, which awarded one scholarship to a student from each of the six design programs that participated in the event.
In one of the evening’s highlights, Francisco Costa, creative director of Calvin Klein Collection for women, was awarded the 2008 Spirit of Design Award in recognition of his widespread contribution to design excellence. 
