The little black dress is a fashion icon, and the region's top fashion design students are proving they have what it takes to reinvent it. The Little Black Dress Designer, one of Texas' largest fashion design competitions, narrowed down its 2013 Houston submissions to the top 10 designs, which were selected by 15 celebrity judges.
The finalists will unveil their designs at the Little Black Dress Designer Fashion. The top five designers from Houston will be awarded $15,000.
The Houston 2013 finalists include: Paola Contreras (Art Institute Houston), Alexa DiBiasio (Art Institute Houston), Isrel Fonseca (Art Institute Houston), Chanel Latouche (Art Institute Houston), Ekaterina Levchenko (Houston Community College), Julio Sanchez (Houston Community College), Nicholle Terry (Houston Community College), Shanna Tucker (Houston Community College), Cheryl Vick (Art Institute Houston) and Samantha Wollenberg (Houston Community College).
This year's celebrity judges include: Francine Ballard (DesignerSocial), Tamara Bonar (fashion show producer), Sydney Dao (Dao Chloe Dao), Christine Goins (Tootsies), Saba & Sarah Jawda (designer sisters), Lenny Matuszewski (fashion show producer), David Peck (designer), CultureMap's Clifford Pugh, Albert Rubio (Saks Fifth Avenue), Joy Sewing (Houston Chronicle), Kate Allen Stukenberg (Papercity Magazine), Evan Wetmore (Houston Magazine), Toni Whitaker (designer) and Liz Zaruba (Neiman Marcus).