Runway show in high cotton

It looks as if there's another big fashion show in the making at N.C. State University.

The College of Textiles has teamed up with Cary-based Cotton Inc. for a new type of show Thursday designed to show the versatility of cotton in fashion design.

The student-run collaboration -- Collection 2009: Cotton Couture -- will include about 35 student designers competing with pieces they have made from cotton. All entries in the show must be made of 75 percent to 100 percent cotton.

The show is shaping up to be a big deal at the college. Student designers, who all take classes in the College of Textiles, had to go through a jury process before being green-lighted for the lineup.

The show, which was funded in part from a grant from Cotton Inc., will have four categories of skill: beginner, intermediate, advanced and collection.

Anne Porterfield, a College of Textiles graduate student who is helping to oversee the show's production, says viewers should expect to see all types of fashion made from cotton, anything from evening wear to business attire.

And unlike N.C. State's popular "Art to Wear" spring fashion show, which draws thousands of attendees to see a wide range of fashion design, the pieces in this show will be clothes that most of us would wear in everyday life.

"All of this is wearable," she says. "In the college, people are trained to design things that are going to be marketable and wearable."

Proceeds from the event will go to support the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women campaign. During the show, a chance to have a made-to-fit dress will be auctioned to help raise money for the group.

The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the Stewart Theatre in N.C. State's Talley Student Center. General admission tickets are $20; for students and children, they cost $10. Buy tickets at the door or at cotcollection.com.

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