University of Cincinnati Student Comes Home for the Holidays
as a Winner in Paris Competition

University of Cincinnati fashion design junior Cynthia Hamilton of Indianapolis, just back from Paris, received quite a Christmas gift while she was there for the year 2000 International Young Fashion Designers Competition Dec. 14. Hamilton returned as the prestigious competition's U.S. winner.

About 130 student designers from around the world participated in the event which brings together promising young designers for a runway fashion show judged by professional designers and journalists. U.S. participants came not only from UC but from such schools as the Art Institute of Chicago and Pratt Institute.

Recalled Hamilton, "All the models had come down the runway for the initial run-through. The judges were considering. I was packing up my stuff, sitting in the section assigned to the U.S. competitors. When I looked up and saw my garment coming down the runway as a runner up to the grand prize winner, I screamed. I jumped back and took the girl sitting next to me with me I was so excited."

Hamilton's entry, which she created as part of a tailoring studio led by Injoo Kim, assistant professor of fashion design, combines a long, slim coat of wool with a matching skirt that reaches to the floor. She obtained the vintage wool material from her mother who originally brought it home to Indianapolis from England 30 years ago.

Beneath this outer skirt of vintage wool is an underskirt of vintage fur, the fur coming from a coat obtained at an Indianapolis theater sale for $5. Recycled purse buckles serve as the coat's buttons and cuff links. "It's an elegant piece with a raw edge," said Hamilton, 21, a 1997 graduate of Brownsburg High School in suburban Indianapolis.

Hamilton calls the experience a real confidence booster for her as well as a valuable education all on its own. "It's great just to talk to other students from across the U.S., to find out about what they're learning, what they're focusing on. It's really helps to see what other people are designing, what's out there. Otherwise, I can't know how I compare. How good is my stuff?"

As U.S. winner in the competition, Hamilton won a $500 cash prize which she plans to use in creating an ensemble for her spring quarter knitwear studio.