GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Fashion magazine ELLE has its eyes on a Kendall College of Art Design Fashion Studies student and her dress named after a bean.
Athena Anger, a junior at the college, is one of five finalists in ELLE Magazine’s ELLE x BYCO Design Challenge.
The fashion magazine received more than 250 entries after announcing the contest in August. ELLE editors narrowed entries to their top 25 designs, including Anger’s “Kidney Bean” dress.
Anger, of Lake Orion, wasn’t sure her entry was successfully submitted for the contest as she had not received a confirmation email like her peers, she said. However, about a week later, she received an email notifying her that her design had been chosen as one of the top 25.
“I had no idea I was in the top five until a few weeks ago,” Anger, 20, said. “I was shocked when I saw the top five.”
Anger’s patchwork-color block “Kidney Bean” dress was one of the top five voted by the public earlier this month. Now it is up to ELLE editors to pick a winner from those designs. The winner’s design will be produced by BYCO and made available for sale, with the entire process documented in the January issue of ELLE, according to its website.
“I was really excited – I remember seeing my photo and others on the ELLE website,” Anger said, adding she took a screenshot of the website. “It’s a cool thing to be acknowledged for your time and putting ideas down on paper.”
Anger said she has always wanted to be a designer and remembers drawing stick figures with dresses on them when she was about 5.
“I’ve always drawn designs, but I never created a piece,” she said. “Once I created a piece, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. … Just making people happy in what they wear – it shows who they are as a person -- and I think that’s a really cool thing in making a piece.”
Anger’s “Kidney Bean” dress uses a neutral color palette in a color block pattern that flows down to the pointed hemline, just below the knee.
“I’ve always designed clothing while thinking of all different body types,” Anger said. “Color blocks look nice on a lot of body types.”
So where does the name, “Kidney Bean” come from?
The sketched model’s face, Anger said.
“When I was drawing and I created her face, I said to a friend 'It looks like a kidney bean,' "the fashion design student laughed. “I never know how to name my designs.”
Lori Faulkner, chairwoman of Kendall College’s fashion studies program, referred to Anger as a “quiet force.”
“Athena is very creative, yet a structured thinker,” she said. “She creates things that people want to wear. To me, they are classic, fashionable pieces with a twist. She does things with a creative edge.”
Many of Anger’s pieces feature unique details – such as darting in unexpected places – that make the designs her own, Faulkner said.
“I feel like when I look at something, I know that is Athena’s work,” she said. “If her entry in the contest is any indication of her success, then she will do very well. She has a pulse on what women want to buy.”
The ELLE contest isn’t Anger’s first fashion nod in the industry. Last year, she won $500 from a Modcloth.com contest, in addition to her dress design created and sold by the online retailer.
“When you’re out in the real world, you have a lot of people to please,” Faulkner said. “This gives her a glimpse into the product process – this is the process she’ll be dealing with every day. I think it’s great learning experience for her.”
When Anger graduates in 2015, she will be among the first graduates of Kendall’s fashion studies program, now in its second year.
On Tuesday, Oct. 29, Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University officials announced that the program will be named the Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion in honor of a $1 million gift the Dan and Pamella DeVos Foundation has made to the program.
Roland DeVos, a Grand Rapids native, is a New York City-based designer who has created fashions for a growing number of celebrities and notable names, including Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Hudson and Carrie Underwood under her label, Pamella Roland.
“West Michigan has always been a place of design,” Kendall College of Art and Design President David Rosen said. “It’s not so much about what we do, but more about the students we have and the community we live in to create a world of design and fashion in our area.”
Related:
• Kendall College names fashion program Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion for $1 million gift
Rosen said it is difficult to rival the reputation of famous fashion institutions, like Parsons in New York City, but he said: “What we can do is we can innovate and provide impact with the talent of our students, like Athena.
“We live in a time where there is less and less constraint by geography and more and more by the talent,” Rosen added. “We believe we have the capacity in this area to create designers that are about to rival those folks anywhere in the world.”
Kyle Moroney covers suburban schools, business and general assignments for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email her at kmoroney@mlive.com or follow her on Twitter or Facebook
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