The first floor of the South Bay Galleria was transformed last Saturday, catwalk and all, for the five finalists competing in the long awaited Project Style challenge.
After five months and four rounds of competition it was narrowed to five girls who would compete in a live “Style-Off” in hopes of winning a $1,000 mall gift card and the title of “Top Trendsetter.”
The Project Style competition happens in 15 different malls across the country and each winner battles for the ultimate grand prize, a trip to the 2013 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City.
The five South Bay finalists were Christy Chen, Jennifer Gonzalez, Tori Thompson, Brittany Donaleshen, and Chigo Ikeme. They were each given a $200 gift card and an hour to shop for the perfect outfit complete with shoes and accessories.
Once they found the perfect outfit they modeled it on the runway for everyone to see, but the decision lay in the hands of the three judges, “Project Runway” designer and red carpet host, Nick Verreos, “Fashion Star” correspondent and host of “How Do I Look?,” Jeannie Mai, and South Bay Galleria Nordstrom’s head of personal shopping Sean Dennison.
“Fashion is something you buy. Style is something that you have,” Mai said as she introduced the event. “You all have a personal story, your story is where you come from, what you like to listen to, the things you like to do in your spare time, what makes you smile. Your style is how you wear your story.”
Mai, Verreos, and Dennison judged the finalists on their overall look, trends used, utilization of the money given, and how they represented their personal style.
After all was said and done the judges gave the “Top Trendsetter” title to twenty seven-year-old Tori Thompson from Los Angeles.
“One of the things that we really looked at was how you managed to hit so many trends but it was still understated and you really found the balance,” Dennison said. “It was very cohesive and we were very impressed with that.”
Her outfit included plum-colored skinny jeans, a leopard print blouse, under a metallic sweater, pumps, a simple yet eye catching necklace, and a studded bright purple clutch.
[scrollGallery id = 469]“I wanted to incorporate as many trends as I could while maintaining the wearablility of the outfit,” Thompson said, “I chose to keep a neutral color palette because I mixed multiple fabrics and prints.”
Thompson spent $170 on her outfit and was able to pull together clothing from four different stores. The judges were impressed with her ability to utilize so many trends in one look as well as how well she utilized her budget.
The one thing that the judges thought set her apart was her fashion blog. Mai and Verreos admired her for wanting to invest the money into clothes that will inspire the readers of her blog, mythriftychic.com.
“It put it over the edge that she had a bigger goal than just going on a shopping spree,” Verreos said.
Thompson said she started her blog to put herself out there in the fashion world, and now that she has won this contest she said that it only validates her style instincts.
“The possibilities are endless with blogging — that’s why I got into it,” Thompson said. “My blog is all about being thrifty and affordable and the fact that I can put together a whole outfit for $200 and Jeannie Mai compliments me on it is awesome.”
Thompson walked away with a $1,000 gift card as well as a $500 gift card for getting 102 fan favorite text votes.
“It’s a little surreal. I didn’t sleep last night. I have never been this nervous for anything. I just love fashion and I really pour my heart into it. I just really wanted to win,” she said. ER
