Fashion Contest

Create a Unique Fashion Display

• This is your chance to plan and create your own unique fashion display.
• "Shop" your house, your Grandma's house or your best friend's house for things that you could work in a fashion display. It can be anything from buckets, to fabric scraps, newspaper, to old paint cans. A display can be made from almost anything.
• Be creative and start with an idea from a favorite book, movie, anime character or TV show. Then collect things that you can re-use or redesign for your display.
• Find interesting and uncommon things that you may find in the kitchen, in the garage, in your basement or in your room. You can drape fabric, stack books, use boxes, bricks, pillows, sew things together; your choices are endless as long as 80% of what you use are things you already have or can borrow from friends or family.

Design Your Own Brand and Logo for Your Own Designs or Boutique

• Have you ever thought about what your own brand, logo or future boutique might look like? Here is your chance to give that more thought and design a brand, logo and "look" that is unique to you.
• For this you may use hand drawn sketches, photos, or computer images neatly organized on a presentation board or in a Power Point or Google Slides presentation that can be easily put into a video.
• There are two ways that this project can be done. We suggest that you pick one of the two options and only focus on that for this submission. So choose between creating your own boutique/store or design your own brand logo for your fashion designs.
• If you choose to do the store your project will need to have: a logo (think of it as the store sign), at least 6-10 photos or original sketches of what the clothing in the store will look like, and examples of what the label in the clothing and the shopping bags and gift boxes would look like for your store.
• The clothing examples can also be photos of clothing from other stores that you would want sold in your own unique store.
• If you choose to design your own brand logo (think of it as the tag that is sewn into all clothing) for your original designs your project will need to have 6 - 10 sketches of your designs and the final logo you create.
• All sketches and ideas must be your own – do not copy from the Internet.
• All submissions must be made large enough so when making your video we can clearly see what you have designed.

Design and Sewing Challenge I

• Create an outfit or a garment designed by you or a team of two. The outfit can include one piece, like a dress or jumpsuit, or more pieces to create the total look.
• The outfit or garment can be constructed in any suitable way that is secure and can be worn by a model on a runway. It can be sewn, glued, stapled, taped, woven, knitted, etc.
• The garment or outfit can be created on or with an existing piece of clothing or can be sewn or constructed from scratch using a pattern.
• At least 80% of materials used must be recycled, second hand or gently used. Suggested materials: fabrics, current garments in your closet, aluminum cans, tissue paper or paper of all kinds, old patterns, grocery bags, coffee filters, newspaper, magazine pages, egg cartons, garbage bags, etc.
• Accessories are strongly encouraged and can be either found objects or made by the participant.
• The finished look should be styled and accessorize by the participant to show a complete look: This includes the hair and makeup on the model that is wearing the garment in the final video submission.

Design and Sewing Challenge II - Mini Collection

• Create a three outfit's mini collection designed by you or a team of two. The collection can include three pieces , like dresses or jumpsuits, or more pieces to create the total look.
• The outfits or garments can be constructed in any suitable way that is secure and can be worn by a model on a runway. It can be sewn, glued, stapled, taped, woven, knitted, etc.
• The garments or outfits can be created on or with an existing piece of clothing or can be sewn or constructed from scratch using a pattern.
• At least 80% of materials used must be recycled, second hand or gently used. Suggested materials: fabrics, current garments in your closet, aluminum cans, tissue paper or paper of all kinds, old patterns, grocery bags, coffee filters, newspaper, magazine pages, egg cartons, garbage bags, etc.
• Accessories are strongly encouraged and can be either found objects or made by the participant.
• The finished looks should be styled and accessorized by the participant to show complete looks in the collection: This includes the hair and makeup on the model that is wearing the garment in the final video submission.

Please complete and submit this registration form by December 30th. If you have questions, please contact pittse@mtmary.edu or kuehnlp@mtmary.edu.

If you choose to use Mount Mary provided supplies, such as patterns, fabric, gently used garments, buttons, and beads to name a few, please let us know what you want and arrange a time for pick-up by contacting pittse@mtmary.edu or kuehnlp@mtmary.edu.

The projects must be submitted digitally as a short video, with 360-degree view of the project and close details, show garments either on a dress form or a live model. Also, the video must include an explanation of your inspiration and your process from idea to finished project. Videos must be created with an app such as You Tube, Instagram or Vimeo. You will need to submit the URL of your video on this form by midnight February 28th, 2026. Make sure that your submission format is not locked or made public so that we can view it.

Thank you and good luck!

Submissions will be reviewed by a panel that includes current students and faculty from the Fashion Design and Fashion Business departments at Mount Mary University. Submissions will be judged on the following criteria: inspiration, creativity, construction, and use of found or upcycled items and materials (remember at least 80% must be found or recycled).

Winning garments and projects will be featured in the 2026 Mount Mary University student showcase and fashion show (If you are submitting a collection only one look from the collection will make it to the runway, the rest may be displayed at the show or shown on the large screens. This will be determined by the Fashion Show Production class), will receive tickets to the show and full or partial scholarships to the 2026 Summer Fashion Academy at Mount Mary University.