Shanghai Daily:Designing break for students
2010-05-19 17:20 
未知 
Zhang Yi
Fashion students are never afraid of showing their creativity but they can be held back by not knowing how to apply it in the market.
An opening for them, however, was recently provided by Hotel Indigo Shanghai on the Bund, a boutique hotel to be launched in May, which organized a uniform design scholarship competition.
More than 30 students from Raffles Design Institute, the city’s leading fashion school, took part.
In less than two months, the competitors were asked to design uniforms for five roles in the hotel, including front office manager, housekeeping supervisor, bell man and woman and restaurant waitresses.
Five finalists presented their collections at the recent final held at Hamilton House restaurant.
“Globally, every Hotel Indigo is different,” said general manager Bruce Ryde.
“However, we share the same philosophy to develop individually styled hotels reflecting the essence of neighborhood.
“Never has a hotel done a competition like this before, as far as I know,” he continued. “we encouraged students to come up with contemporary designs with a touch of Shanghainese elements, while being practical, wearable and comfortable.”
The students were shown through the hotel to get a basic idea of its design and style.
“The hotel is where old Shanghai meets new Shanghai,” said Fancy Gu, the first prize winner.
“I was inspired by a bedside lamp in the display room which can change to any of seven colors to provide different ambiance. In synch with the lamp, I chose purple and pastel colors. Purple symbolizes romance and pastels give guests warm and pleasant feelings. Chiffon draped near the bed inspired me to include curves in my design, in which I have also blended Chinese elements, such as a Mandarin collar and a qipao silhouette,” she said.
Gu and other competitors won a scholarship valued at RMB70, 000 (US$ 10,263). She will continue to design uniforms for the collection.