The Humane Society's Cool Vs. Cruel Winning Fashion

While Seventh Avenue's highest profile designers were celebrating the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners at New York's Skylight Studios in Tribeca on Thursday, November 16, fashion's indie players were further uptown town celebrating a win of another kind at the Cool vs. Cruel fashion design contest.

Sponsored by The Humane Society of the United States and The Art Institutes of Seattle, Cool vs. Cruel's student competitors vied to see who could whip up couture-worthy creations using animal-friendly, sustainable synthetics and/or vegetable-based resources that mimic the appearance, feel and texture of real fur.

"With Cool vs. Cruel, the Humane Society Society of the United States and The Art Institutes are encouraging the next generation of fashion designers to show compassion, which is always in fashion," said Project Runway season one winner, Jay McCarroll, who led a panel of judges that included designers Marc Bouwer, Atom Cianfarani and design duo Duckie Brown, along with Paper magazine's Mickey Boardman and actress Elizabeth Berkley.

"All it takes is a little creativity to replace cruelty on the runway," added McCarroll, a vocal animal rights activist whose own New York Fashion Week show in September was sponsored by The Humane Society.

The winning look was designed by Art Institute student Marisa Widjojo, who employed a faux seal skin wrap to create a layered, deconstructed dress. Widjojo's prize included an all-expense-paid trip to New York for Thursday night's reception, which was held at the nightclub SOL in Chelsea, and the chance to intern with a major Manhattan designer prior to New York Fashion Week next September.

Score one for compassion.

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