Supremely Supima: Alyssa Wardrop!


Recent graduate Alyssa Wardrop has won the 10th annual Supima Design Competition. Her womenswear capstone collection was seen on the runway during Fashion Week yesterday. Art and Design Dean Troy Richards and Fashion Design Chair Eileen Karp were there and captured the moment.

“I really got to do what I love doing and put everything into it,” said Wardrop upon receiving her award.  Wardrop said earlier that her collection was inspired “by the way screens in a movie are cropped, capturing beautiful moments.”

One of the designs from Alyssa Wardrop’s winning capsule collection. Photo courtesy of Supima

“I was impressed with the way her designs were specific to the material,” says Dean Richards. “As an artist it’s important that the idea and the medium work together. She accomplished that beautifully.”

Supima, the trade association of American pima cotton growers, awards a $10,000 cash prize to the winner of the competition.

Currently a design intern at Calvin Klein, Wardrop graduated last year as a top fashion design major with a minor in art history. Along the way she studied a year in Milan and was a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

“We are so proud of Alyssa,” said Karp. “Her garments are edgy and fresh and show new ways to work with Supima cotton. She really discovered her voice and aesthetic in the last year and a half. I was thrilled to be in the audience cheering her on.”

Design of Supima winner Alyssa Wardrop. Photo: Dean Troy Richards

Wardrop, who completed her BFA last year, was mentored in the development of her collection by fashion designer and FIT professor and alumuns Daniel Silverstain.


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