PHILADELPHIA, Mar 26, 2011/ — Moore students are bringing their fashion flair to a celebration for the Roberto Capucci: Art Into Fashion exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

On April 1, the museum’s Art After 5 program will begin its spring season with a night of two “Project Capucci” fashion competitions at the museum, one of which will feature Moore students.

One of the founders of modern Italian fashion in the early 1950s, Roberto Capucci is a master of color, form, and innovative silhouettes. Today, after six decades of creative achievement, he is one of Italy’s most influential and imaginative artist-couturiers.

Roberto Capucci: Art Into Fashion, on view from March 16 – June 5, 2011, is the first American tribute to his work, featuring nearly 90 works spanning the artist’s career, with supplementary film clips and historical photographs that document the parallels between his designs and the Italian fashion world. The exhibition will trace Capucci’s artistic career chronologically, from his discovery in 1951 to his recent dress sculptures.

In the first fashion competition, design students from the Art Institute of Philadelphia, Drexel University, and Philadelphia University will present Capucci-inspired creations.

The evening’s second competition is an eye-opener on the creative process of fashion design. Moore College of Art & Design students will craft Capucci-inspired garments on dress forms spontaneously, right on the scene, vying to design a winning creation. The students will be able to design throughout the evening, but their newly fashioned clothes must be completed in time for judging at 8 pm.

“Many people have no idea where clothes come from,” notes Rob Lehmann, haute couture historian and adjunct professor at Moore. “Of course, an original concept is born in the mind of the creator.

“Then, most often, specific ideas are worked out in a sketch, drawing, or illustration. This can serve several purposes: to record ideas which may get pushed out of a mind already crowded with ideas, to communicate a concept to a client and to further refine one’s design concept.

“Next, the refined concept becomes an actual three dimensional study rendered in cloth, which serves to perfect the concept and to eventually becomes the basis for a pattern for the manufacture of the actual in ‘fashion fabric,’ thus, a garment.”

The ART AFTER 5 event will be hosted by NBC10 anchor Lu Ann Cahn with special guest judges: Marla Green DiDio, Philadelphia fashionista; Missy Dietz, General Manager of Neiman Marcus and member of Philadelphia Magazine’s Style Squad; Jay McCarroll, fashion designer and winner of the inaugural season of Project Runway; Luigi Scotto, Consul General of Italy; and Brigitte Segura, contributor to InStyle.com, whatswear.com, fashionledge.com, and citychickmagazine.com.

At the end of the night, the judges will announce the design winners from the runway and live couture competitions. Winners of both competitions will be awarded a cash prize donated by the Italian Consulate as well as the Heart of Philadelphia pendant from the LAGOS collection, inspired by the iconic columns of the Museum. The night’s artistic inspiration will continue until the Museum’s galleries close at 8:45 pm.

For more information visit www.philamuseum.org