On Thursday, November 14th the Fashion Institute of Technology held its first-ever Live Art Duel on its New York City campus.
The event was hosted by Spotlight’s very own Founder and Editor-in-Chief Sydney Sadick. This duel put eight FIT students to the ultimate test.
These eight creatives were hand-selected from an application pool of over 100 FIT students. The duel consisted of three rounds. The artists were tasked with creating masterpieces on conventional and unconventional canvases in twenty minutes.
During round one, the eight painted on blank canvases that reflected the theme “The House You Carry With Me.” Once their twenty minutes were up, a group of industry judges selected the four students that would advance to round two.
The judges included Ariel Adkins, founder, Artfully Awear; Tze Chun, founder, Uprise Art; Ron English, an artist and designer; Nicole Fischelis, international fashion and art consultant; Keli Goff, Emmy nominated producer; Wendy Goodman, design editor, New York Magazine; Rebecca Moses, designer, artist, and author; Ruben Toledo, artist and co-founder, Toledo Studio; Andy Yu, fashion designer and artist.
Round two, titled Hidden Truth, was sponsored by Marc Jacobs. The four student artists were tasked with painting on dresses modeled by FIT students. After the judges convened to select the final two students.
Eyoab Desalegn and Brooke Ledda dueled it out in the final round, competing for a grand prize of $10,000. Round three was sponsored by The Real Real, and the two were challenged with painting on vintage purses.
Ultimately, Brooke Ledda took home the grand prize, but all eight students went home winners. The runner-up Eyoab Desalegn received $2,500; the third-place winner Hailey Lee received $1,500; and the rest of the students all took home $750.
Brooke Ledda was also victorious in the “Audience Choice Awards.” “My inspiration came from everything that I’ve been through, everything that I’ve lived through. I poured my whole life into this,” she said.
Following the awards, all of the student artwork will be auctioned off all the proceeds will go to the FIT Foundation.
The duel was attended by major industry names including FIT President Dr. Joyce Brown, Fern Mallis, Ruben Toledo, Wendy Goodman, Andy Yu, Marisol Deluna, and many more.
This event was a testament to the student’s creativity and commitment to their craft and a great way to bring industry professionals together.
