Kent State University senior fashion design major Jay
Lewis (middle) displays his winning ball gown sketch.
Lewis is surrounded by competition judges (from left to
right) designer Geoffrey Henning, Project Runway’s
Nina García, designer Charlotte Ronson and actress
Katie Holmes.

Kent State University senior fashion design major Jay Lewis will have his modern-day fairy tale look displayed at the flagship JCPenney store in New York’s Manhattan Mall.

The retailer invited nine students from the Fashion School at Kent State to New York to create designs based on the ball gown from Disney’s forthcoming live-action Cinderella film. Kent State was the only university invited to participate, with some students traveling from Kent and others presently enrolled at the Fashion School’s NYC Studio.

On Feb. 11, participants gathered at the Palace Hotel to create their sketches live before a team of celebrity and industry judges, including actress Katie Holmes, Project Runway’s Nina García, and designers Charlotte Ronson and Geoffrey Henning.

Pictured is Kent State fashion design
student Jay Lewis' award-winning
sketch.

Lewis, selected as the first-place winner, will have his design produced and displayed, and receive a $5,000 scholarship. The JCPenney window also will display the sketches of every Kent State student who participated.

“I was inspired by Cinderella’s transition — it was her confidence and what she was wearing that made everybody think she was a princess,” Lewis says. “So I wanted to make my dress able to transition — it has hidden snaps so the corners turn up and it can become a shorter skirt, and then the neckline can also change. My dress is about the transition from day to night and being ready for any situation.”

Lewis, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, also received the Best in Show award at the Fashion School’s 2014 annual show. After graduating later this year, he hopes to work in couture.

Click here to view more photos from the event.

For more information about Kent State’s Fashion School, visit www.fashionschool.kent.edu.