Creating an inspired look from scratch with 24 dollars in 24 hours? For fashion veteran Lucy W. Baird ’10, this is a familiar challenge. Both the defending champion from last year’s FM Fast Fashion Challenge, and an active member of The Vestis Council, a Harvard organization for fashion design Baird is old hat at anything involving fabric and scissors.
It’s a Friday afternoon and the clock reads 4 p.m. The designers are given names of famous Harvard alumni on slips of paper as inspiration for the looks they will create. Baird picks out “Ursula Le Guin.”
Baird’s first reaction: “Who is this?” But after being filled in (Le Guin is a sci-fi fantasy author) the designer quickly comes up with a vision for her creation.
With a photography project to complete, Baird knows she won’t have much time, so she keeps the concepts simple. With an idea for her “space-age cocktail dress” in mind, she heads out with fellow competitor, Vicky D. Sung ’10, to a fabric store in Boston.
Winmil Fabrics is a dingy, unassuming store overflowing with fabrics in every color and texture: from stretch cotton to light chiffon, patterned fleeces to psychedelic prints, faux fur to feather boas, oversized buttons, sturdy zippers, and spools of thread. This is square one for fashion design, a place where three dollars will buy you thirty inches of zipper.
“Usually, I have an idea before I buy the fabric,” says Baird, as she browses determinedly through the fabric aisles. Finally, she selects a stretchy red-nutmeg fabric shimmering with interwoven threads of gold, along with a bluish-black jersey. She adds in two spools of thread and some crocheted decorative golden brown lace. Grand total: 24 dollars exactly.
At 1:30 p.m. the next day, Baird has magically transformed the materials into a form-fitting, golden dress. She works in The Vestis Council’s SOCH space, a room littered with old Haute fashion show programs, flowered shoes, and a pair of fairy wings. Amidst this chaos is an artist at work over her dressmaker mannequin. Lucy is adding her signature touch to the back of the dress, cutting out strips of black fabric and pinning them across an open back.
The rhythmic sound of the sewing machine punctuates the silence before puttering to a stop. “Sometimes it doesn’t like stretchy fabrics,” she says, as she is forced to rethread the machine. But by four, the dress is finished.
Half an hour before the show, Baird is all smiles as she shows off her model and roommate, Claire-Marie Murphy ’10.
“This is good. I’m glad it ended up working out. I think she’s more nervous than I am. She’s got to worry about walking out there,” Baird says.
The music begins, and the designers take their seats. Let the judging begin.
