Amanda Forastieri wins 2020 Supima Design Competition

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Sep 11, 2020

Amanda Forastieri of Drexel University has won the 2020 Supima Design Competition, one of fashion’s leading prizes for student designers.

Forastieri triumphed in the competition’s 13th edition,  staged this year in a dynamic digital format due to the pandemic.  She was one of six finalists from six key American fashion and design colleges. The other five finalists were: Sakura Mizutaki, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising; Jenny Feng, Fashion Institute of Technology: Jennie Nguyen, Kent State University; Terrence Zhou, Parsons School of Design and Kyra Buenviaje, Rhode Island School of Design.

The happy winner received a $10,000 prize from Supima to kick-start her design career.

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The voluble stylist and fashion commentator Law Roach hosted the final, which was broadcast live on Instagram. Supima Design Competition has a novel competitive format, where each six finalists are given fabric to produce five different looks, provided by Supima, globally recognized as the cashmere of cotton, and produced exclusively in the Southwestern United States.

Supima’s jury was composed of 20 fashion veterans and professionals including Fern Mallis, Mary Alice Stephenson, Avril Graham, Tyler McCall, Abrima Erwiah, Faith Cummings, Lilliana Vazquez and the author of this report.

The winner’s collection was entitled Utopia, which Forastieri explained she hoped was a harbinger of a better future for the world post-pandemic. Featuring rather brilliant graphic abstract floral prints and truly bold use of color, the collection marked her out as a young designer to watch.

Also impressing with a bravura sense of proportion and tie-dye printings was Zhou of Parsons, another graduate with a promising future.