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Last Friday the 27th of May, the graduating fashion designers of the Altos de Chavón School of Art and Design brought their 2 years of training to a spectacular close with the fashion show ‘Estilo 2011: The Silk Road’, which was a resounding success! I predict the next time we’ll be seeing these talented youngster is during at Dominican Fashion Week or maybe even New York Fashion Week! Click here for photos of the Altos de Chavón Art and Design School ‘End of Year’ art exhibit! Celebrated in Casa de Campo’s Flamboyant conference center, the fashion show ‘The Silk Road’ was the combined work of the school’s 20 students, who have just graduated with Fashion Design degrees. The inspiration behind the collection was ‘The Silk Road’, an ancient trading route which lead from China to Europe connecting the East and the West and the result was a spectacular combination of patterns, stripes, bold colors and romantic silhouettes. The highly coveted scholarship to pursue studies leading to bachelor’s degree at the Parson’s New School for Design in New York was given to students Kaori Sone and Connie de la Cruz – watch out New York Fashion Week we have some serious talent headed your way! Fashion critics and the evening’s special guests; Leonardo De Armas, Jose Jhan and Julio Marcano presented awards for the best designs, taking into account the development, concept and preparation for each piece. The winners of these awards were: Seami Lee, Connie de la Cruz and Rodolfo Caraballo. Here you can see these 3 talented designers with their creations receiving their awards:

Seami Lee

Connie de la Cruz

Rodolfo Caraballo

At the end of the show, following the prize-giving ceremony, each one of the 20 designers took to the stage with one of their creations to the applause and a well-deserved standing ovation from the audience! Here are my photos of the students and their fashion:
Whilst the clothes and fashion were obviously the highlight of the show, the bright make-up and edgy hair styles of each model certainly contributed to the overall result – thanks to the make-up team, led by Campusano Jochy of COVERGIRL and the Herbal Essences styling team led by Karen Bonilla. As well as Casa de Campo villa owners and residents, amongst the audience were international special guests were representatives of the Andean Area College Foundation in Colombia; Hernando Velazquez, International Director of international relations, Maria Victoria Tovar, Director of the department of Fashion and Mary Evelyn Ruiz, teacher of the fashion department. It was excellent – I especially loved the dresses and am now in pursuit of a number of them to wear at upcoming Casa de Campo parties! Here is my rather large collection of photos of the fashion show – enjoy! [nggallery id=872] Click here for photos of the Altos de Chavón Art and Design School ‘End of Year’ art exhibit!