Oak Mountain High School student Charlee Vawter has been selected as one of the Rising Design Star Challenge 2015 winners.  The Birmingham Fashion Week (BFW) Rising Design Star competition is created to promote, encourage and inspire talented youth within our state through the creation of wearable pieces of art.

Contestants had to submit a sketch of their design, which was reviewed by a panel of judges from the Birmingham Museum of Art.  Vawter is one of 40 contestants whose sketches have moved on to the second round of the competition.

Her design is currently on display at the Museum of Art.  The second round of competition will see the designs narrowed down to the top 24 garments selected for the BFW runway show.  The garments will be again be judged on the runway, where and one lucky designer will win the overall title as the 2015 BFW Rising Design Star and a $500 scholarship.

The rules for the contest stated the garments had to represent one of the following major industries of Alabama: Agriculture, Livestock, Transportation, Technology, Fishing, Forestry or Mining.  Each garment had to be be constructed so that it is sturdy enough to go down the runway on a live model during the runway show.  The garments could not be sewn and had to be constructed using glue, staples, tape, safety pins, and paper clips.

Vawter’s art teacher, Ashley Lemley, praised her for the honor and for her hard work on the project.

“She has worked tirelessly and hand-made the dress from flowers without being able to sew it together using traditional methods,” said Lemley. “She used newspaper, glue and staples to put it all together.  I think it is really amazing!”