Supima 14 – with six finalists – to be hosted by Law Roach

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
Aug 31, 2021

Supima, the non-profit organization that promotes the use of what many regard as the cashmere of cotton, will stage a live joint runway show during next month’s New York Fashion Week, hosted by one of America’s hottest stylists Law Roach.

 
The show – featuring the six Supima Design Competition (SDC) finalists – will mark the 14th edition of the annual event, with candidates drawn from the best fashion colleges in the United States.
 
Using American-grown Pimacotton the half dozen finalists from top design universities across the country will present their ideas from daywear to evening in capsule collections on Sept. 9, 2021.

At the end of which the winner will be revealed to the audience, with a first prize of $10,000 and heightened visibility from the prestigious award.
 
The event will mark the second time the SDC will be hosted by Law Roach. The noted stylist and image architect of such luminaries as Celine Dion, Ariana Grande and Zendaya, Roach will MC the live fashion show. He is joined on this year’s panel of judges by Nicola Formichetti, Fern Mallis, Edward Barsamian, Luke Meagher, Kelly Augustine, Godfrey Deeny, Freya Drohan, Gianluca Longo, Emilia Petrarca, Avril Graham, Claire Thomson Jonville, Rajni Jacques, Maria Bernad, Tyler McCall, Tati Cotliar, Shibon Kennedy, Jerome Lamaar and the 2016 competition winner Jeffrey Taylor.
 
Supima’s show will be staged at 608 Fifth Avenue – a 10-story building in the International Style once described as “one giant Art Moderne cigarette case of marble” - in midtown Manhattan. Last year’s Supima event was completely online due to the Covid pandemic.
 
“Given some of the challenges we are still facing, we are so proud of this year’s group of finalists. They are all extremely talented and have been able to embrace the true meaning of the SDC with their creativity and innovation. After last year’s shift to a completely virtual format, we are thrilled to announce that we will be showing live once again,” said Buxton Midyette, VP of marketing and promotions for Supima.
 
Once again, CFDA Award-winning eveningwear designer Bibhu Mohapatra will act as a mentor to the finalists.
 
The six finalists are Cat Pfingst of Drexel University; Jiarui Cai of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising; Yitao Li from the Fashion Institute of Technology; Alana Tolliver, Kent State University; Yuki Xu, Rhode Island School of Design and Bora Kim of the School of Art Institute of Chicago.