Young Designers Dazzle at Fashion Gala

Article by: Joel Goldsmith

Look out London!  Move over Milan!  Not this year New York!  2010 belongs to
Atlanta Grady High’s young fashion design team UrbanCouture.  Doggies On The Catwalk took place Friday in the studios of Georgia Public Broadcasting (GBP).

Local celebrities sporting UrbanCouture’s original student designs escorted pooches garbed in coordinating outfits down the runway before a packed house.  What I saw was an impressive display of the creative talent of these student designers.  It did not take a leap of faith to envision seeing some of their works strutting down a runway in New York someday.

Holly Firfer, Atlanta Radio and Television Personality, hosted the event.  She looked stunning in a beautiful dress designed by student designer Kelsi Eccles and kept the event moving along, never missing a beat even when some of the dogs tried to steal the show.

The fashion designs for the human models were incredible.  In keeping with current trend, leather, metallics and beautiful earth tones were in full use.  However, it was the way these timely materials were utilized in conjunction with other materials and creative techniques that truly highlighted the original ideas of the designers.


The dogs were fabulous, though not as easy to control as the human models.  The runway was accented with moments of humor as the dogs exercised their independent minds; stopping in mid-strut, heading off in any direction or just plain sitting down and pandering to the crowd.

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All in all, I saw beautiful gowns, stunning uses of leather, great patterns, vests and sweaters and a beautiful coat worthy of the retail world.  The word of the night was definitely original.  The designs were absolutely current and fit today’s trends, while still maintaining the signature of each of the individual designers.

If you missed out on attending the live event, you absolutely must tune in and watch it broadcasted on GPB, on January 23 at 3pm & January 24th at 7pm.  You will no doubt find yourself wishing you could run to the boutique and purchase these fantastic designs.

*All images are courtesy of Scott Reeves Photography.

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