Brooklyn Public Library offers unique fashion design program
NEW YORK -- Fashionable chaos rules as more than a dozen designers button up 16 weeks of hard work at the Brooklyn Fashion Academy, a program created at the Brooklyn Public Library.
On the final fitting before they own the runway on Friday, designers are stitching, pinning, and fitting the elaborate pieces inspired by this year's theme, Egyptian deities.
Winnie Siclait, senior outreach specialist at the library's Business and Career Center, is one of the creators of the competitive program, launched five years ago as a way to open doors in a cut-throat business.
"I'm a ball of emotion because they have worked so hard. This is their coming out party and I just want it to be perfect," she said.
Friday night, the library lobby will be transformed into a runway where the designers will be debuting their work for the first time in front of hundreds of people.
Project Runway star Benjamin Mach was brought on as a mentor for these designers who underwent a competitive selection process to ensure they have what it takes.
"Sometimes the best talent doesn't get to have that breakthrough moment because they've taken an conventional journey. So I think something like this program is really good because we are kind of going against the conventions," Mach said.
Midwood native Jean Remarque was one of the selected participants. The lifelong interest in merging sustainability and fashion brought him here.
"It's beyond an opportunity, its really like, I want to say, catapulting you to the beginning of your career," Remarque said.
Then there's Minaxi Mahedia, who grew up in the lowest stratum of India's caste system. She taught herself to sew, and passed her skills to hundreds of women in her hometown. As her son Vinit translates her story, she gets emotional.
"We are also from a very underprivileged community called 'untouchables,' so for us, it's a big moment," Vinit said.
Now in her 60s, Mahedia explained through her son that this program allowed her family to finally follow her own dream.
"She never got a chance because she was raising us, cooking, doing everything," Vinit said. "She is super passionate."
"I don't know any other program like this that exists. And especially not at a public library," Siclait added.
For many, the program is a new beginning, a fabric stitched together with passion and creativity. It's open to Brooklyn residents aged 18 or over.
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