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LAWRENCE: Fashion night showcases LHS grads’ creations

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
It was not the runway in Milan, but that didn’t matter to those folks who turned out for a homegrown fashion show in the dining commons at Lawrence High School last week.
    More than 100 high school students and their families watched, cheered and applauded as their classmates modeled T-shirts and sweatshirts designed by LHS alumni at the fashion show Thursday.
    The fashion show was the brainchild of Nicole Krawczyk and Kari Van Treuren, the president and secretary, respectively, of the LHS chapter of DECA — formerly known as the Distributive Education Clubs of America.
    The goal of the fashion show is to raise money for the group’s trip to the state DECA competition in Cherry Hill this week. The winner of the state contest moves on to the national contest in Anaheim, Calif., later in the spring.
    Nicole and Kari were aware that Phillip Annand, who graduated from LHS last year, has designed a line of clothing. The girls approached Phillip, and he suggested reaching out to several LHS alumni who also design clothing to see if they would like to participate.
    The alumni-turned-designers jumped at the chance to display their clothing. But setting up the fashion show — a project that Nicole and Kari intend to enter in the state competition — was time-consuming, they said.
    “It’s a lot of work,” Kari said. “The past month of my life has been dedicated to the fashion show.”
    Brother-and-sister designers Taylor Smith and Rachael Smith are among the four designers who took part in the show. The Smith siblings, who grew up in Robbinsville, graduated from LHS in 2007 and 2004.
    The Smiths call their design company Universitee Apparel, because they design T-shirts based on college logos. They began with East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., from which Ms. Smith graduated in 2008. They also design T-shirts for Rutgers University, and hope to expand to other colleges.
    “I draw out the design and then we scan it into the computer,” Ms. Smith said, adding that they seek out the school’s permission before proceeding. The T-shirts are generally available in the college’s school store, she added.
    Phillip Annand, who is a freshman at Rutgers University, who calls his line of clothing The Award Tour, said he draws inspiration for his line of T-shirts, sweatshirts, knit beanies and baseball caps from hip-hop.
    “When you are living every moment to its fullest, that’s what we mean when we say you are on ‘the award tour,’” Mr. Annand said. “I get a lot of (ideas) from vintage record album covers and vintage skateboarding imagery.”
    “I printed a few T-shirts just for fun in my junior year (at LHS) and I sold them in school. I sold them out in three days. I decided to expand (the business) from there,” said the Lawrence resident, who is studying communications at Rutgers.
    Chris Martine, who graduated from LHS in 2006, and his friend, John Heinel, set up shop as YW Clothing, said Keith Martine, who was filling in for his brother because Chris could not attend. Keith is a junior at LHS.
    Chris and John came up with the idea of starting their own clothing line and they called it You’re Welcome, Keith said, adding that there is a demand for T-shirts. It’s more expensive to design other articles of clothing because it takes more time to find the right material and the right suppliers, he said.
    The two designers, who are students at Lehigh University, get their ideas from listening to hip-hop and rap music, and also from their visits to Philadelphia, Keith said. YW Clothing features one design, but there are two more in the works, he said.
    LHS graduate Stephen Thompson, who grew up in Robbinsville and who is a senior at Desales University in Center Valley, Pa., showed off Pyknic, which is a line of clothing he designs with company partner and classmate Andrew Marshall.
    “We were at the mall and we saw some clothing,” Mr. Thompson said. “We thought we could do it. We wanted to put something different out there. Our designs are based on food. I like to cook and I like to eat. We were looking for ways to incorporate food into popular culture.”
    Pyknic is sold in chain stores such as Hot Topic and Pacific Sunwear at major shopping malls, but the line also is sold in stores abroad, he said. The company has recently reached an agreement with a German warehouse to distribute the line in Europe, he added.
    “It’s a lot of work, but it pays off,” he said.
    The designers Web sites are: www.universiteeapparel.com (Rachael and Taylor Smith), www.theawardtour.com (Phillip Annand), www.ywclothing.com (Chris/Keith Martine), and www.pyknicwear.com (Stephen Thompson)