Five teams of Fresno State fashion merchandising students will showcase designs at the inaugural Mother’s Day Visual Merchandising Design Challenge at 3 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, at Top Drawer in the RiverPark Lifestyle Center.
Top Drawer will close for two days, allowing the teams to create displays that will be evaluated by a panel of judges, comprised of local professionals and leaders in the fashion industry. The community will also contribute votes and help to determine the winning team.
Voting will be open from midnight on Monday, April 24, to noon on Tuesday, April 25. Votes can be cast on the TopDrawer Facebook page or @topdrawerfresno on Instagram. The winning team will be announced at the event. Designs will remain showcased at Top Drawer through Mother’s Day.
Winners will receive a two-week internship with Top Drawer, have the opportunity to create a visual display for La Feliz Guild’s annual Derby Down, a fundraiser for Valley Children’s Hospital, and have a team dinner at Campagnia Bistro. All teams will receive a Vera Bradley tote bag and a copy of “A Colorful Way of Living: How to Be More, Create More, Do More the Vera Bradley Way,” written and autographed by Barbara Bradley Baekgaard, co-founder of Vera Bradley, Inc.
The event will also feature presentations by industry leaders. Speakers include Harry Cunningham, head of store development for Vera Bradley, Inc., and Katie Dickinson, product specialist of TJX Companies.
Refreshments will be provided by student-run business HoneyDoo’s Cookie Company.
The event is a partnership between Fresno State and Top Drawer and is endorsed by the Pay it Forward program of the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The public can attend for free by registering at http://bit.ly/FSDesignChallenge. For more information, contact Dr. Lizhu Davis at lidavis@csufresno.edu or 559.278.8755, or Top Drawer at djd-d2@att.net or 559.213.6403.
