Fashion Alumna to Appear on Project Runway
Althea Harper, a 2008 graduate of UC's internationally ranked School of Design, will appear in the coming season of Project Runway, which gets underway on Aug. 20.
Harper graduated in June 2008 from the University of Cincinnati's internationally ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, and is now a resident of Brooklyn.
In the upcoming season six of Project Runway, she will be one of 16 contestants on the show, which provides young designers the opportunity to boost their design careers under the watchful eye of mentor and Liz Claiborne Chief Creative Officer Tim Gunn.
While a student at UC, Harper gained valuable experience via the university's top-ranked cooperative education program. Cooperative education, co-op as it is called, is the practice wherein UC design students alternate quarters in the classroom with quarters of professionally paid work, allowing students to graduate with about 18 months of paid experience. UC is the global birthplace of co-op, having invented the practice in 1906, and the university's co-op program is ranked in the nation's Top Ten by U.S. News & World Report.
Said Harper, "In my last two co-op quarters, I worked for British designers Vivienne Westwood and Alexander McQueen in London. While I was there, we went to Paris' fashion week and participated in and saw the runway shows. There was nothing like it for the drama and excitement of what's coming next in fashion."
In addition, Harper also had paid, cooperative education quarters with designers Anna Sui and Zac Posen in New York City, with Garan in New York City and with Victoria's Secret in Dayton.
In a way, Harper has been preparing for this Project Runway opportunity since she was a child. She has always loved to draw, but it was at the young age of ten when she found her niche for fashion.
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