Brad Goreski And Christina Ricci Award Next Fashion Visionaries

The third annual Fashion Next Design Award program, hosted by a prolific partnership between Elle and the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), is sending 19 fashion student envoys to showcase their garments in a live runway show during Fashion Week. Designs will be judged by a guest panel that includes jewelry designer Alexis Bittar, French-born Catherine Malandrino, Wes Gordon, actress Christina Ricci and celebrity stylist Brad Goreski (pictured above). The jury will select two grand prize winners to take home the Elle Fashion Next Design Award and the Maybelline New York Design Visionary Award, from sponsor Maybelline New York.

The designs are inspired by New York City itself, which is an adopted home to many of the contenders, such as Daniela Gutmann (pictured above), who moved to New York from Brazil at the age of 11, and Daniel Silverstain, an Israeli New York-based student with a taste for full colors. Brooklyn resident Karen Pancho (pictured below), who hails from the Philippines but grew up in Seattle, taps into the grungy, graffiti-adorned New York that she has come to love — refining her street-savvy sensibility with clean lines and proportions. "I was inspired by the energy and absurdity of New York. It's a city of constant and rapid change. In many ways, this is more than just about New York City; this is about modern life."

Other finalists include Sunyoung Lee, Danielle Ridarick, Yvonne Luong, Helen Castillo, Rosa Ng, Maira Houck, Amanda Carlson, Paul Kim, Soyeon Hwang, Jongsuk Park, Lauren Sehner, Kieran Dallison, Joshua Myrie, Aubrey Pedersen, Taekyung Kim and Christine Smith. For more about the contestants, visit Elle's website here.

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