SUPIMA, the non-profit luxury brand that promotes the use of American grown Pima cotton around the world, is excited to announce Carla Pierini, Drexel University, the winner of the 2023 SUPIMA Design Competition.

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SDC 2023 Winner, Carla Pierini (Source: Getty)

Hosted by globally recognized and acclaimed American fashion designer, Jeremy Scott, this year’s competition saw Carla Pierini and seven other finalists from the top design schools across the country showcased exceptional individual creativity and design talent with eveningwear capsule collections created entirely with SUPIMA cotton fabrics on September 7^th, 2023, during a live runway show at The Prince George Ballroom this New York Fashion Week. The highly skilled and visionary group of young, emerging designers were tasked with creating five looks using five types of SUPIMA fabric: shirting, twill, denim, jersey, and velveteen. CFDA Award winning eveningwear designer, Bibhu Mohapatra, returned for his ninth year as mentor to the finalists, providing insight, support, and council to each contestant throughout the SDC program. It was a difficult decision with so many extraordinary collections to consider but this year’s prestigious panel of judges determined that Pierini is taking home a prize of $10,000 along with industry recognition and visibility for all of the 2023 finalists.

This year’s SUPIMA Design Competition Finalists included:

• Amber Kuia, Academy of Art University
• Carla Pierini, Drexel University
• Alexander Ziemba, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
• Hee Jin Hwang, Fashion Institute of Technology
• Wendy Weng, Kent State University
• Tianze Wu, Parsons School of Design, The New School
• Sahara Clemons, Rhode Island School of Design
• Mariana Espinosa, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Each collection was carefully evaluated by an elite panel of over 20 judges comprised of industry veterans, editors, designers, and stylists including: fashion designer, Jeremy Scott, eveningwear designer, Bibhu Mohapatra, Abby Silverman, Angel Nemov, Ann Caruso, Avon Dorsey, Avril Graham, Cipriana Quann, Danya Issawi, Edward Barsamian, Emilia Petrarca, Freya Drohan, Godfrey Deeny, Jeffrey Taylor (2016 SDC winner), Jerome Lamaar, Jill Manoff, Jonathan Cohen, Kelly Augustine, Laurel Pantin, Lisa Lockwood, Mahoro Seward, Mandy Lee, Mickey Boardman, Shibon Kennedy, and Victoria Brito.

PHOTOS

Link to Getty / Photo Credit: Getty Images for SUPIMA

Link to download runway images / Photo Credit: Getty Images for SUPIMA

ABOUT SUPIMA

SUPIMA is America’s luxury cotton: founded in 1954, the SUPIMA brand, short for “Superior Pima”, designates an elite variety of Pima cotton sustainably grown only in the West and the Southwest U.S. It is prized the world over by designers and discerning consumers who value its resilient strength, lasting color, and indulgent softness. Through the AQRe Project, all SUPIMA branded apparel and home fashion is now digitally tracked and forensically tested from origin all the way to the store shelf.

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