DRESS UP FOR DOWNS

In 2016 the Kent State University organization Dress Up for Downs was created to connect the Kent State fashion community with the Down Syndrome community in the Akron/Cleveland area. From the start, I worked with the founding board to bring the organization to life and create clothing items for community members with Down Syndrome. Our models helped design their outfits and our teams of students worked to build their garments. These models then got to show off their designs on the runway at our annual fashion shows! The organization is still thriving at Kent, and working to raise money for the local Cleveland organization The Upside of Downs.

2016 - A dream come true

For our first show, I created a pair of cropped pants for a young woman with Down Syndrome. Creating pants for a person with a non-traditional body type was challenging, and highlighted the importance of creating clothing for diverse body types. Above are images of my model in her new cropped pants!

2017 - a night with the stars

In 2017, I worked as the organization’s Special Project Manager. During this year I helped all of our designers work on creating garments for their models. I taught skills for a variety of levels including basic industrial sewing machine operation, pattern drafting, fabric selection, and finishing techniques. My model for this show requested a purple dress shirt with zebra details, in the first image above! The rest of the images are of garments I assisted in creating, including several unique dresses, and a fun stripe tee.

2018 - picture perfect fashion show

For my final show with Dress Up for Downs, I was able to continue working with the same model I had the year before. He has a love of purple, and an interest in fun details, so I created another purple dress shirt, this time with metallic topstitching for additional detail!