Student’s passion for fashion gets national recognition

Holly Corey sat down with a sewing machine for the first time when she was 10 years old.

Her hobby soon turned into a lifelong passion for fashion.

"Fashion has always inspired me as an artist. The impact the fashion world has allows there to be a balance between the arts and business, which makes this an interesting career," she said.

Corey, a senior fashion design and merchandising student at West Virginia University, recently took one more step toward her dream.

One of Corey's designs was selected for the 2011 International Textile and Apparel Association Design Exhibition.

ITAA is a worldwide organization of scholars and educators in the textile, apparel and merchandising fields that seeks to advance excellence in education, scholarship and innovation.

Corey's outfit was one of 66 designs accepted for the live gallery exhibit in Philadelphia.

Professionals, graduate and undergraduate students submitted 251 designs for consideration – making for a 39 percent acceptance rate, according to Nora MacDonald, a fashion design and merchandising professor of Corey's.

Corey said working within the WVU Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design helped give her the confidence to get her work out into the real world.

"Dedication to this field, along with a hard work ethic, is what I plan to take with me after I graduate. Believing in yourself to create clothing pieces that hope to inspire others is what drives me," she said. "As a West Virginia native, I have found representing the fashion department at WVU to be a real honor."

The piece that will be displayed at the exhibit is a reversible two-piece outfit inspired by Carnival of Brazil, an annual celebration held 46 days before Easter, Corey made in MacDonald's flat pattern class.

"I wanted to translate the Brazilian Carnival aspects to be more Americanized. I did this by just taking aspects of the Brazilian costumes such as the bright colors, feathers and metals," Corey said. "The dress is completely reversible and has a more day-appropriate look on one side, and then can be unzipped and reversed to reveal attire to be worn after work or school hours."

Corey said she hopes to be her own boss one day, and she wants to create a clothing label and sell her pieces in retail stores throughout the country.

"Having my own label is a few years in the future," she said. "In the meantime, I want to work with other designers until I understand the business aspect really well."