Annette Stone ’16

Making Strides in the Fashion Industry

Annette Stone ’16 is in her final semester at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York City. She was recently one of 10 winners in the “Disney on Broadway x FIT Design Challenge,” a competition among FIT students to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of Disney on Broadway. The ten winners were selected to design two looks for an assigned female leading lady of some of Disney’s most popular broadway shows. Annette’s designs for Jasmine of Aladdin, along with the designs of the ten finalists, were exhibited at the FIT campus in New York City and later traveled to Seoul, South Korea to be on display at the State University of New York (SUNY) campus. Annette’s work was shown on Good Morning America’s Strahan, Sara, and Keke, and ABC7, New York. Her work was also featured in major publications such as Women’s Wear Daily, Elle Magazine (Mexico), and Playbill. Through this experience, Annette has made incredible industry connections helping her land her current job at Carolina Herrera.

“This is a pure example of hard work paying off,

Annette says, “This is a pure example of hard work paying off,” a quality she attributes to developing while at Chaminade. For Annette, Chaminade played an essential role in preparing her for many real-world challenges that she has faced in college and her career. Most directly for the Disney contest was the mentorship she received while on Chaminade’s high school robotics team, Eagle Engineering. She says,

Though the connection between fashion and robotics might initially sound outlandish, the structures of problem-solving, construction, and my role as the head of public relations [for the team] prepared me to not only thoroughly plan out the materials and construction needed for my garments but also elected me as the student ambassador among my fellow contestants to speak publicly at the exhibition opening.

She also gives credit to Chaminade’s English classes, which helped her analyze characters for whom she designed.

Additionally, she says, “Chaminade’s faculty and staff were so incredibly supportive of my dreams to study fashion. My counselor Janet Svolos has been a constant advocate for my dreams even through college. Mr. Valentine let me talk his ear off from such a young age about fashion and shows like Project Runway, and Tracy Lundy and Yvette Bishop let me try my hand at costume design.” Above all, she is grateful that Chaminade allowed her to integrate what she was passionate about into her education.