STEPPING STONES: In winning the eighth annual Supima Student Design Competition, Kate McKenna, a 2015 graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design, said, “Hopefully my career will start. I would love to eventually have my own label.”
Olivia Culpo, event host and former Miss Universe, called the contest “an amazing launching pad for their careers.”
Backstage, McKenna agreed: “Winning Supima and having their backing and support means everything. Hopefully, down the road, when I get more experience in the industry and can partner with someone, we’ll see what happens.”
The $10,000 cash prize she received should help the 24-year-old McKenna, who just received her bachelor’s in fashion from SCAD.
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Buxton Midyette, vice president of marketing and promotion for Supima, which designates a variety of pima cotton grown only in California and the Southwestern U.S., said all the finalists “put their hearts into making these collections an embodiment of their vision as emerging designers.”
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McKenna noted that she was “apprehensive” when first presented with the Supima fabrics to create a capsule eveningwear collection. But she said, “I am so pleased with what happened with the collections. It was a continuation of my senior thesis work and…I’m stubborn and it all came together. I had an amazing support team at SCAD. I couldn’t have asked for a better collection.”
Supima added a seventh school to its roster of participating colleges participating in the competition, in which finalists from each school create collections that are evaluated and presented on the runway, in this case the Gallery at Skylight Clarkson Sq on Thursday. Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute joined Academy of Art University in San Francisco, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology, Ohio’s Kent State University, the Rhode Island School of Design and SCAD.
McKenna also credited designer Bibhu Mohapatra, who served as the competition’s first design mentor.
She added; “I will be an avid fan of Supima cotton for as long as I’m on this earth.”