VOA标准英语2010年-A Passion for Fashion Pays Off

Brittney Paulson (left) and Arianna Janelle Moultrie (right), grand prize winners of the Passion for Fashion Competition 2010, attended New York City Fashion Week.

During the recent Fashion Week in New York City, top designers unveiled their fall and winter collections to buyers, the public and young students who hope to one day see their own designs on the catwalk.

Arianna Janelle Moultrie has always had a passion for fashion. "When I was in third grade, I used to design dresses all the time," she says. "I'd help my Mom pick out her outfits¹ in the morning and everything."

Brittney Paulson also recalls her childhood interest in fashion. "I started getting into fashion when I was really little," she says. "My mom always told me that I always wanted to dress myself and I would never let her do it, and that I have always had a passion for fashion."

Fashion Winners

The two young women are grand prize winners of the Passion for Fashion Competition 2010. The contest is sponsored by The Art Institutes, a consortium of private schools that prepares students for careers in a variety of applied² arts, including design, media, fashion and culinary studies.

 
Courtesy: The Art Institutes
Arianna's winning entry in the design category was an autumn-themed evening gown.

Arianna, who submitted her entry in the design category, caught the judges' attention with an autumn-themed evening gown.

"It was inspired by autumn leaves that are in my neighborhood," she says. "They are orange and yellow. So I made that dress orange and yellow."

In the marketing³ category, Brittany submitted a prize-winning fashion retail⁴ concept.

"My actual entry was a business plan for a store called 'Iconic,'" she says. "This store is based on celebrity⁵ trends, which is basically taking celebrity items and clothes and their styles and bringing them in to this store at much more affordable⁶ prices, so everyone can afford them."

Both winners earned a full scholarship to attend The Art Institutes, a $500 shopping spree and a trip to New York City for Fashion Week.

Fashioning their future

Arianna says the experience reinforced her dream of becoming as successful and recognized as her favorite designer, Valentino, known for his opulent gowns.

"I plan to start my own fashion label and then get into women's shoe design," she says. "I'd like to bring a more unique couture. I'd like to start working on that part of the fashion industry. I'd like to see it develop into more creative forms of fashion."

Brittany says she has her eye on a more affordable label line for her fashion career.

"I plan to be a stylist for either a magazine or a celebrity stylist and eventually have my own styling agency," she says. "I would like to see everyone getting involved with fashion. I know that not everybody can afford to be completely fashionable and everything, but I think my contribution is trying to make it more affordable for everyone. So they have a chance to be fashionable at an affordable price."

Tomorrow's style makers⁷

The Art Institutes' spokeswoman Devra Pransky says Passion for Fashion encourages high school seniors to pursue careers in the highly competitive fashion industry. The contest is now in its fifth year and, she says, the entries' level of sophistication has been steadily⁸ increasing.

"It's truly inspiring, seeing the work of these high school seniors because they are just coming up with some fantastic concepts in fashion marketing and merchandizing and retail management category, some truly original thoughts," she says. "In terms of the fashion design category, we're seeing some really unique concepts, really unique designs. They are putting so much of themselves into each piece, which really gives a lot of meaning to every entry that we see."

Pransky says the ultimate winner is the fashion industry.

"I think these young talented high school seniors will bring to the fashion industry a very fresh and young perspective that they are pulling from the pop culture, that they are pulling from environmental issues, that they are pulling from their everyday life," she says. "I think that that can be a great asset to the fashion industry."

The future of fashion, she says, is being designed today.
 

1 outfits   

n.全套装备( outfit的名词复数 )；一套服装；集体；组织v.装备，配置设备，供给服装( outfit的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He jobbed out the contract to a number of small outfits. 他把承包工程分包给许多小单位。 来自辞典例句
• Some cyclists carry repair outfits because they may have a puncture. 有些骑自行车的人带修理工具，因为他们车胎可能小孔。 来自辞典例句

2 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

3 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

4 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

5 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。

6 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

7 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。