News of Win Unbelievable for Fourth Term Fashion Student Sandra Al-Dabbagh
Sandra Al-Dabbagh said it has barely registered that she won a national design competition and this fall her collection of dresses sold in stores across Canada.
“It is such a big deal,” Al-Dabbagh said. “It was just so shocking, I really wasn’t expecting it.”
Al-Dabbagh, a Fashion Design student at the Toronto Film School at RCC Institute of Technology, has officially been named the winner of the Additional Elle Little Black Dress Contest, beating out fashion students from across the country.
As unbelievable as the news is, when the 25-year-old starts to think and talk about her incredible accomplishment an unmistakable expression of excitement takes over her face.
Last February, Addition Elle challenged design students across Canada to create the perfect trio of “Little Black Dresses”. Design students submitted designs for three little black dresses and despite a busy schedule of school and work, Al-Dabbagh spent long nights drafting her collection and submitted it to the contest.
From March 17-26, Addition Elle customers voted for their favourite dress and the top ten designers were chosen. Of those, selected designers were then asked to create a real-life sample of one of the dresses in their collection and Al-Dabbagh was one of the selected designers.
The dresses were put on models, photographed and put on the contest Facebook Page for fans to vote on. And although Al-Dabbagh’s more than 3,000 votes didn’t land her the top spot in terms of fan voting, she received a call from Addition Elle advising her that in addition to Facebook votes there was some input on the company end, and her collection had been chosen as the winner.
The title means that Addition Elle is going to make her collection of dresses and sell them in 100 stores across Canada beginning this fall. She will also receive a $5000 scholarship, a $1000 gift card for Fabricville or Fabricland and a sewing machine from PFAFF ®.
Now in her fourth term of the Fashion Design program, Al-Dabbagh said this win has been a tremendous boost to her confidence. Particularly when considering that before she started the program she had never so much as sewn before.
“With this great news this definitely has inspired me to go forward,” Al-Dabbagh said. “That fact that I won something so early on in my studies, it really pushes me to do really well in my collection, which is what I am working on.”
Al-Dabbagh said she thanks all of her family, friends, peers, instructors and strangers who voted for her design during the contest.
“All of that support just helped me to continue and it really pushed me to go further,” Al-Dabbagh said.
You can read more about Sandra Al-Dabbagh and her dress designs in our original story .
Editors Note: The Fashion Marketing and Merchandising Diploma program and the Fashion Design Diploma program are now offered under the banner of the Toronto Film School. For more information visit www. torontofilmschool.ca.
