Style Network’s Jeannie Mai, host of the television show “How Do I Look?” is having her first Designer Challenge to find the next “it” designer today at Cal State Long Beach’s fashion department.
In a personal video sent to the CSULB fashion department, Mai said the challenge would be to design an outfit for her.
The winner will get a feature on her blog IheartJeannie.com, a mention on her Twitter and the Style Network’s website mystyle.com, a rolling credit on her show and a copy of the episode in which Mai will wear the outfit.
“The main things I am looking for are: [1] Personality,” she said via e-mail.
“The sign of a good designer is to convey not only their own personality through their work, but to capture mine as a television presenter and bring it out. [2] Quality: Many times in fashion, creativity has to be substituted for quality. This cannot be the case. [3] Consistency: To be a legend like Alexander McQueen or Givenchy, you have to have staying power,” she continued.
Assistant stylist to Mai and CSULB alumna Christina Pombo said she had a little to do with CSULB being chosen for Mai’s challenge.
“Jeannie had an idea where she wanted to contact young designers,” Pombo said. “I told her [CSULB] had an amazing fashion program. She put it in my hands to get it all together.”
The students in the Fashion Club have been working together with professors to get the word out to other students and host the event on campus.
According to co-president Andrea Medina, the club has been posting on Facebook and creating flyers to advertise the event.
“This is a great opportunity since a lot of the people in the industry don’t know that CSULB has a fashion department,” said Medina, who is also submitting a design of her own. “With this challenge, they will see that we have a really great design program.”
Fashion students had until yesterday at 6:30 p.m. to turn their portfolios and sketches in to the department professors.Pombo said they are expecting 20 to 25 designs and they will choose the best designer to bring Jeannie’s aesthetic to life. Fashion professors were tasked with helping narrow down the candidates, then Mai’s style team will choose the finalists.
The chosen designers will get a “Style Pass,” like on “American Idol,” Pombo said. They will have a week to send their designs and three to four weeks to actually produce the garment before the fittings.
The finalists will get to meet with Mai during the process.
The challenge will be held in the Family and Consumer Sciences building, Room 108/110, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Mai’s fashion team will look over the candidates’ portfolios and sketches to look for the most promising designers.For more information, visit Facebook’s Young Designers Search at CSULB page.
“I’m so excited to be uniting Style Network’s ‘How Do I Look?’ with you talented students, and I encourage every one of you to have fun with this incredible opportunity,” Mai said. “When I have my eye on someone, I’m already eager to know what I can promote next. And if I’m wearing your work, I’ll wear your name proud.”
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