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HCC Spring Fashion show features top student designers

May 4, 2023

Maria Hammond, with certificate, poses with models wearing her gowns at the event in Dallas two weeks ago.

Houston Community College fashion students will exhibit creative designs at the college’s annual Spring Fashion Show Friday evening.

The 7:30 p.m. event – with the theme of Vivid Renaissance – will feature five ‘looks’ from soon-to-be-graduating HCC fashion design students. Models will walk the runway in the lobby of the William W. Harmon Building located on the HCC Central Campus at 1300 Holman Street.

One featured designer is HCC returning student Maria Hammond. “I used images based on what is happening in Syria and Ukraine right now as well as images from nature,” she said.

Her process involves printing large, digitally enhanced images that are then embedded thermally into fabric that then becomes the material used in the designs.

Hammond’s resulting evening dresses embody both natural beauty and “the ability that humans have to be resilient no matter what they go through,” the practicing licensed psychologist who works with young children said.

She called pursuing fashion design at HCC a “second passion” and hopes to work in fashion as well as continue her practice with young children. Hammond earned a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Houston and also studied at the famed Parson’s School of Design in New York. She is a graduate of Baylor University (psychology and journalism) and earned a master’s degree in behavioral science from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.

Just two weeks ago, Hammond won the Fashion Excellence Award at the Fashion Group International Dallas Scholarship Competition. The HCC show is another opportunity for her to experience the “thrill of seeing the works I’ve created worn by models,” Hammond said.

The HCC Fashion Design Program at Central offer students instruction in various aspects of fashion, with students allowed to experiment with lines, colors, fabrics, patterns, textures and styles as they create original pieces. The program offers associate degree or certificates.

“Our goal is to unleash each student’s unique creativity and allow them to hone their work to express their individuality,” said Andrea Bonner, Fashion chair. “I know these graduating students are thrilled to show off their fantastic designs at this event.”

She noted that graduates of the HCC program have parlayed their HCC studies into successful careers within the fashion industry.

Tickets to Friday’s event are $25. The door will open at 6:30 p.m.

For more information about the HCC Fashion Design Program, visit https://www.hccs.edu/programs/areas-of-study/art--design/fashion-design/