<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  You don&amp;#039;t need to remind the students at Manhattan&amp;#039;s Fashion Institute of Technology\u2014alma mater of such Seventh Avenue legends as Michael Kors, Calvin Klein, and Carolina Herrera\u2014just how tough it is to make it in the fashion industry. In the hallways, urban legends abound about interns who have had to, say, dodge a flung pair of scissors, or match the boss&amp;#039;s coffee to the specific hue of a Pantone chip\u2014or even tend to a designer&amp;#039;s pampered pooch. Not that any of this dissuades them. In fact, FIT students proved just how committed they are to a career in fashion during this year&amp;#039;s FASHION | NEXT contest, ELLE&amp;#039;s annual competition for young design talent, which partnered for the first time with the prestigious design school. Their challenge? To sketch a capsule collection of two or three looks inspired by the very city they call home. Editors whittled down applications to 22 finalists, who will debut their creations on September 7 during New York Fashion Week on the runway at Lincoln Center. There, a panel of designers, celebrities, and ELLE editors will award top honors: ELLE&amp;#039;s FASHION | NEXT Design Award ($25,000) and one Maybelline New York Design Awards ($25,000). (A third prize, the People&amp;#039;s Choice Award, worth $10,000, is being chosen by users on ELLE.com.) Like New York itself, the finalists constitute a melting pot of origins, with students hailing from everywhere from Amish country, Pennsylvania, to Seoul, South Korea. For many, fashion design is just one of their myriad talents. (Just ask womenswear designer Daniel Silverstain, who had a brief career topping the Israeli pop charts before moving to New York.) In their sketches, the Gotham theme ran the gamut, from the concrete\u2014literally: the grid system translated into mesh and waffled fabrics\u2014to more abstract concepts, like the rapid pace of urban life, as reimagined via aerodynamic sportswear. In an art-imitates-life twist, Madison, Wisconsin, native Yvonne Luong created an homage to the Norman Foster\u2013designed honeycomb-esque Hearst Tower, which just happens to be home to ELLE&amp;#039;s offices. Needless to say, the finalists&amp;#039; journey from sketch to runway is no cakewalk. In the months leading up to the show, entrants have met routinely with FIT faculty and ELLE editors to discuss their progress. &amp;quot;You don&amp;#039;t just sit in front of a sewing machine and make a dress, 1-2-3,&amp;quot; says 25-year-old Helen Castillo from Weehawken, New Jersey, a former Vivienne Westwood intern who turned out a mini collection of intricately beaded evening gowns. &amp;quot;You think about the fashion show and it&amp;#039;s like, Wow, it&amp;#039;s up there for 10 seconds, but the process behind it is so time-consuming.&amp;quot; That said, if they&amp;#039;re lucky, those 10 seconds might bring them that much closer to having someone match their coffee to a paint chip one day. Click here to see some of the student designs from ELLE and FIT&amp;#039;s FASHION | NEXT competition! Click here to vote for your favorite FIT finalist! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/a14338/fashion-next-spring-2013-competition/>