Entry by winner Anastasia lafrate
Entry by winner Anastasia lafrate

NEW YORK, Sep 8, 2014/ — On the first day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, Kent State University student Anastasia Lafrate won the highly prestigious SUPIMA Design competition with a purse of $10,000.

Launched in 2008, the annual Supima Design Competition was created to give runway exposure to emerging talent and was modeled after the legendary 1954 Wool Secretariat competition that launched the careers of the then-teenaged Yves St. Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld.

Since its start, former Supima Design Competition winners have gone on to launch their own labels, show at New York Fashion Week and secure jobs with top international labels.

Supima presented their seventh annual Supima Design Competition Thursday at Lincoln Center. Six recent graduates representing the “best of the best” in American design schools squared off for a $10,000 first prize to jump-start their careers in design.

The winner, Anastasia Iafrate of Kent State University, was chosen by the panel of guest judges. This year’s finalists were Jenny Hoang from the Academy Of Art University, David Lee from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, Ou Ma from the Fashion Institute of Technology, Anastasia Iafrate from Kent State University, Sharon Moon from the Rhode Island School of Design, and Yuxi Bi from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Supima is America’s luxury cotton. Founded in 1954, the Supima brand designates an elite variety of Pima cotton grown only in California and the southwestern U.S. Supima is prized the world over by designers and retailers for its softness, strength, and lasting color.