Frock value

Antonia Schindle, as one might expect of a Manitoba fashion junkie with a blog titled Live Glam or Die, doesn't put her "cute little dresses" and "killer platform heels" on ice just because there's a foot of snow on the ground.This week, however, all of her attention is on a single dress she has obsessed over for months but will never wear.

The 20-year-old University of Manitoba student is among 25 student designers from across Canada -- and the only Manitoban -- chosen to have their creations showcased on the runway Thursday at the Telio Design Competition during Montreal Fashion Week.

"It's really surreal and exciting, quite literally a dream come true," Schindle said in an interview from her home near Argyle, about an hour north of Winnipeg.

"I've always dreamed of going to Fashion Week, having watched it on TV and read about it in magazines."

Five scholarships totalling $10,000 are up for grabs, not to mention the opportunity for up-and-coming designers to impress buyers from New York, Paris and Tokyo.

This is the first time Telio has opened the competition, now in its fourth year, to students outside of Quebec. The 25 finalists were chosen from among 116 applicants from 20 schools.

Their challenge was to design and sew a high-end women's outfit for the fall 2009 season that would likely be sold at a store such as Holt Renfrew. They were to use six metres of fabric, chosen from among 18 types provided by Telio.

Students were asked to reflect on their Canadian values and to draw inspiration for their designs from the four elements: earth, air, fire and water.

Schindle wanted hers to also reflect Manitoba's natural landscape, so she looked at the terrain around her family's rural home and imagined the warmer days to come.

"I live on 160 acres of forest, and in the spring or summer there are tons of wild roses, and they're really pretty, so I really wanted to do something around that."

Her creation for Telio is an above-the-knee, fitted dress with long, puffed sleeves in a brown wool-rayon blend with silk flower appliqués on the neck, bodice and skirt. Each of the 80 or so blooms had to be hand-stitched.

"That was quite a task," says Schindle, who is in her third year of the U of M's textile sciences program.

The dress took her about 100 hours from sketch to hanger -- including a test copy cut from a cheaper fabric.

Schindle says she's been interested in clothes as far back as she can remember and was always sketching outfits as a kid. While she counts Balenciaga and Balmain as her main muses, the stylish brunette credits her mother for artistic inspiration.

"My mom has always inspired me; she's so artistic ---- she can sew, she can draw, paint, do pottery. She's the one who suggested I enter the competition after we saw the poster at school."

Schindle, who appears to have inherited the creative gene, says that while she's not sure which path she'll take, it will be in the fashion industry.

"Next to design and art, I also love writing," she says, "I constantly have my face in fashion magazines and books. So if fashion design doesn't work out, I'd love to write for a fashion magazine.

"I do know I'd like to do more schooling, maybe in New York."

In the meantime, Schindle has a plane to catch for her all-expense paid trip to Montreal -- where further dreams may unfold.

"Someone could approach me and buy the dress or buy the design, I suppose. I'm so excited."

carolin.vesely@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 3, 2009 D1