American Red Cross

As part of the festivities, the American Red Cross Silicon Valley Chapter invited all local artisans, fashion designers and high tech designers to participate in the inaugural Red Cross Wearable Arts Competition highlighting the American Red Cross theme of emergency preparedness prevention and response for a show of art with a life-saving message.

Nearly a hundred designs were submitted from artists across the United States with one coming from as far away as London.  Entrants were submitted from an exciting range of talent including fashion designers, industrial designers, high tech specialists, students, costume designers, architects and artists. Through a series of elimination rounds, the Red Cross selection committee narrowed the field to 11 exceptional designs. Of those 11, the five Red Cross Wearable Art judges awarded a Grand Prize winner and a Runner-up.

The Grand Prize was awarded to Josie Jesser of Oakland, CA, who owns a children’s clothing line called Look Organics and is a student at Apparel Arts in San Francisco, with “One World – One Movement”.  This art piece recognized the work of the International Red Cross Movement with a globe skirt  that highlighted over 600 disaster aid sites in 2009 where the Red Cross helped over 44 million people. Also included were the seven principles of the Red Cross as well as the Red Crescent and Red Crystal symbols.

The first Runner Up was awarded to “Compassion in Action” inspired by the “helping hands” images of the Red Cross during the Haitian disaster.  The designer, Erandeny Torres of San Jose, CA is a fashion designer, a make-up artist and a student at West Valley College. The design was fabricated from jersey knit and included multi-dimensional cast bandage forms and acrylics.

Torres also garnered the “Crowd Favorite” award by winning the most votes from the elegantly dressed audience of almost 500 people.

Click to see photos and videos from the evening.