CHS Young Designers of America Program
What is it?
The Young Designers of America competition is a program in which high school students will be designing costumes for the popular vinyl fashion doll, Gene Marshall. Gene is a fictitious movie star of the 1940's and 1950's. In her real life she dresses in costumes that are true to the period, while for her movie roles she can be almost anyone. Her costumes are influenced by world events and fashion trends of the 1940's and 1950's. In 1996 Santa Barbara High School in Santa Barbara, California was the first school to participate in the Young Designers of America Awards. The program has since been enjoyed by students from schools all over America from upper Michigan to New York City to El Paso, Texas. This year CHS is one of 3 schools in the nation who's application was accepted for participation in the program.
Students in Debra Zeller's sewing class have been researching costumes from their chosen time period and sketching design ideas. Students from Oregon State University in the Apparel & Design program have been meeting with the CHS students as mentors to help with the design process.
The students involved in this program are experiencing the same design process used by designers in the field of apparel design.