Fashion
A Live Art Duel and a $10K Prize: How One FIT Student Came Out on Top
Last night at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), a group of students entered the ring for a fine art face-off. The school’s inaugural Live Art Duel, hosted by Sydney Sadick, editor-in-chief and founder of Spotlight magazine, challenged eight young artists to create instant masterpieces, which are to be auctioned off to support FIT students.
The competing students were Eyoab Desalegn, Jacob Frazier, Wiktoria Klimczuk, Brooke Ledda, Hailey Lee, Elijah Ogbomo, Jialun Tong, and Amelia Weitknecht.
The first round, which required students to paint on canvas, challenged the artists to adhere to the theme “the house you carry with me.” The top four moved on to the second round, where they painted clothing, which was provided by Marc Jacobs, on models; the theme for round two was “hidden truth.” The final joust was a true duel, where Desalegn and Ledda went head-to-head with the theme “inspired by my favorite artists.” The two were tasked with painting on vintage handbags from The RealReal. Ledda took the top prize, winning $10,000. Desalegn received $2,500 for his second-place finish.
“My inspiration came from everything that I’ve been through, everything that I’ve lived through,” Ledda said in a release. “I poured my whole life into this.”
Brooke Ledda won the competition.
Following the competition, Dr. Joyce F. Brown, president of FIT, said to the crowd, “The fact that these artists from five different programs across the School of Art and Design were able to envision and develop and create original works of art on demand is really a testimony to the deep reservoir of talent that we are privileged to cultivate here at FIT.”
Judges for the night were Ruben Toledo, artist and co-founder of Toledo Studio; Ariel Adkins, founder of Artfully Awear; Tze Chun, founder of Uprise Art; Ron English, artist and designer; Nicole Fischelis, international fashion and art consultant; Keli Goff, Emmy-nominated producer; Wendy Goodman, design editor of New York Magazine; and Rebecca Moses, designer, artist, and author.
Dr. Joyce Brown and Ruben Toledo
“[The winners’] approaches were so different…That speaks about their individuality, which is inspiring. FIT can cross-pollinate between artists, fashion, designers, graphic designers, marketing people, all that is evident and how confident they are with what they do,” Toledo said in a release. “When you’re in your own bubble, you’re never that free, but when you cross-pollinate in this way, you give birth to new ideas. It forms community.”
Samuel is the Associate Editor at ELLE Magazine. Prior to this role, he was the Assistant to ELLE’s Editor-in-Chief, Nina Garcia. At ELLE, Samuel writes about music, fashion, arts, and culture, interviewing Normani, Lola Tung, Sara Bareilles, Kelli O’Hara, Nicholas Galitzine, Tate McRae, and more. Raised in Des Moines, Iowa, Samuel attended Northwestern University and currently resides in New York City.
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