Mélange Student Designer Nomination for 2011 Summer Fashion Shows

Hello Hayley,

I work at Mélange Productions, Inc. in San Francisco, CA. Our company brings together elements from fashion, music, dance, and theater to celebrate all types of artistry and contribute to charity. We are preparing for our three summer fashion shows beginning July 30, 2011 in San Francisco, and you have been nominated to be a featured Student Designer for our fashion shows in San Francisco, CA. 

This is a great honor as we only select three Student Designers to participate in these summer fashion shows. We are interested in potentially featuring your garments because we admire the dramatic quality and exceptional craftsmanship in your Graduate Collection 2010. Your creations are surreal and are powerful statements in themselves.

Our mission is to support up and coming designers and to celebrate diversity by featuring models and designers of diverse backgrounds. Our Board of Advisors includes Guila Clara Kessous, Jean Paul Gaultier’s 2011 creative director, and Bill Guttentag, a two-time Oscar-winning producer-director. Designers like Nicole Miller will be showing at our shows! We encourage you to visit our website to learn more about our organization: http://membersofmelange.com/. Based on your designs, we think you might be a good match as a designer we would like to promote through our local and national networks. 

If selected as a Student Designer fashion participant for our summer shows, you would benefit from on site marketing, online brand promotion, and potentially a new channel for selling your garments. The attached document reviews some initial details of logistics for participation. There is no financial cost of participating in our productions if you are selected as a 2011 Student Designer. 

If you are interested in potentially accepting this nomination as one of our three 2011 Student Designers, please get back to us by June 3 with the two following materials:

1. Please answer one of the questions below (150 word limit). This will help us get to know you better and to evaluate if you are an appropriate match as a Student Designer for Mélange.

· What are the key experiences in your life that have shaped your perspective as a designer?

· What do you turn to for inspiration?

· Why is celebrating diversity important to you?

2. Send us a link showing the garments that would be available to showcase for our summer fashion shows (e.g. a link such ashttp://www.catwalking.com/GRADUATES/GRAD_10/BA_shows/shows/Westminster/shows/08-Hayley%20Lai/index.html will do).

We have nominated you because we believe designers like you have the creativity and talent to contribute to the diverse image of fashion. Of the nominees, only three Student Designers are selected to participate in our fashion shows. Winners will be announced by mid-June. Please don't hesitate to let me know if I can answer any questions you may have about this exciting opportunity. 

Thank you so much for your time, Hayley, and I look forward to hearing back from you! 

Warmest regards, 

Michelle Fong

Director of International Fashion

Mélange Productions, Inc.

Cell | (650) 283-9287

E-mail | michellefong@membersofmelange.com

Visit | www.membersofmelange.com

Hi Michelle,

Here is the answer to one of your questions:

What do you turn to for inspiration?

I consider myself to be an artist when I create clothes. I can envision clothing from bizarre things be it a paper clip, strand of hair or an origami shape.  My design aesthetic usually stems from something completely non fashion related and is put together in a more challenging way. Recently I have been encapsulated by architectural shapes and forms. I take on a more modern approach when I design and am infatuated by the architectural harshness, futuristic and edgy feel.

Buildings are not the only means of my inspirational research I have been motivated by strong characters found in origami and furniture forms too.  My previous collection is an example of how I linked strong structure in to my clothing as I used modern fabrics such as plastics, denims and card and manipulated them to create solid three dimensional shapes.

Hayley Lai