The Department of Human Ecology's strong track record in a national fashion design competition earned it a new scholarship this spring and an undergraduate is the happy beneficiary.
Third-year student Francesca Bombini won $1,000 from Telio, one of North America's leading fabric producers, for a chic dress she designed for an advanced apparel design and product development class.
"It was tasteful, minimalist and she really followed the requirements and reflected on them perfectly," said Vlada Blinova, who teaches the course and set the parameters for the scholarship.
The winning garment needed to be inspired by a piece of visual art and use unconventional construction techniques and specialty fabrics.
Bombini won with a festive black mini dress inspired by Jackson Pollock's paint-drip composition, #5 1948. The abstract canvas looks black, grey and white until closer scrutiny reveals cleverly understated inclusions of yellow and red, too. Until last year, the famous work held the record for the highest price ever paid for a painting, after it sold for $140 million in 2006.
That combination of restraint and luxury is echoed in a dress made of stretch taffeta, inset with organza that's altered by needle felting. The latter is a technique in which strings of wool yarn are woven into the organza to make it both crinkle, and to add texture and colour.
The judges, including local celebrity designer Malorie Urbanovitch and Human Ecololgy instructors Lori Moran, Jane Batcheller and Kathryn Chandler, unanimously approved of the interpretation.
"Because this piece of art is so busy, I simplified the colours and motions of it," said Bombini, a 21-year-old who said the process taught her to appreciate how striking simplicity can be.
Visual art has traditionally been a wonderful source of inspiration for the world's clothing designers, said Blinova, because it provides so many influences in colour, texture and shape. That is certainly evident in the garments that placed second and third in the class of 17 designers.
Amy Wang's white dress features free-motion machine quilting in the bodice and 400 silk chiffon triangles hand-attached to the skirt, in an homage to the Cubism of Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso.
Joel Nardelli created a black neoprene top with raw edges, and pants with patch pockets and ties, inspired by Minneapolis artist Jesse Draxler's dark, deconstructed images that border on the absurd.
Telio, a Montreal company that has sponsored a national competition called Canada's Breakthrough Designers for a decade, changed the contest's format this year. Instead of whittling down national submissions to five prizewinners receiving varying cash awards, it offered a $1,000 scholarship to each of the schools that have participated and done well in the past.
The Clothing, Textiles and Material Culture program in Human Ecology qualified because it has made the competition's finals three times in the past five years, while student Zach Ward won the technical mention scholarship last year.
"It was very generous and we're very grateful for their support of young designers," said Blinova.
Meanwhile Bombini, who is pursuing a combined BSc in Human Ecology and BEd, with the intent of teaching fashion at the post-secondary level, is delighted to have some of next year's tuition already tucked into her bank account.
Third-year student Francesca Bombini won $1,000 from Telio, one of North America's leading fabric producers, for a chic dress she designed for an advanced apparel design and product development class.
"It was tasteful, minimalist and she really followed the requirements and reflected on them perfectly," said Vlada Blinova, who teaches the course and set the parameters for the scholarship.
The winning garment needed to be inspired by a piece of visual art and use unconventional construction techniques and specialty fabrics.
Bombini won with a festive black mini dress inspired by Jackson Pollock's paint-drip composition, #5 1948. The abstract canvas looks black, grey and white until closer scrutiny reveals cleverly understated inclusions of yellow and red, too. Until last year, the famous work held the record for the highest price ever paid for a painting, after it sold for $140 million in 2006.
That combination of restraint and luxury is echoed in a dress made of stretch taffeta, inset with organza that's altered by needle felting. The latter is a technique in which strings of wool yarn are woven into the organza to make it both crinkle, and to add texture and colour.
The judges, including local celebrity designer Malorie Urbanovitch and Human Ecololgy instructors Lori Moran, Jane Batcheller and Kathryn Chandler, unanimously approved of the interpretation.
"Because this piece of art is so busy, I simplified the colours and motions of it," said Bombini, a 21-year-old who said the process taught her to appreciate how striking simplicity can be.
Visual art has traditionally been a wonderful source of inspiration for the world's clothing designers, said Blinova, because it provides so many influences in colour, texture and shape. That is certainly evident in the garments that placed second and third in the class of 17 designers.
Amy Wang's white dress features free-motion machine quilting in the bodice and 400 silk chiffon triangles hand-attached to the skirt, in an homage to the Cubism of Marcel Duchamp and Pablo Picasso.
Joel Nardelli created a black neoprene top with raw edges, and pants with patch pockets and ties, inspired by Minneapolis artist Jesse Draxler's dark, deconstructed images that border on the absurd.
Telio, a Montreal company that has sponsored a national competition called Canada's Breakthrough Designers for a decade, changed the contest's format this year. Instead of whittling down national submissions to five prizewinners receiving varying cash awards, it offered a $1,000 scholarship to each of the schools that have participated and done well in the past.
The Clothing, Textiles and Material Culture program in Human Ecology qualified because it has made the competition's finals three times in the past five years, while student Zach Ward won the technical mention scholarship last year.
"It was very generous and we're very grateful for their support of young designers," said Blinova.
Meanwhile Bombini, who is pursuing a combined BSc in Human Ecology and BEd, with the intent of teaching fashion at the post-secondary level, is delighted to have some of next year's tuition already tucked into her bank account.