Project Mozart Fashion Show Finals

Last night, Bostonista went to Symphony Hall for the first time. We really went to see a fashion show. But we stayed for the Mozart. And, my, was listening to classical music relaxing. Like getting a massage. All of the unwinding. And none of the undressing.

Bostonista learned many things at the Symphony. Never clap in the middle of a score. A substantially younger audience painfully realized this after they were the only ones to put their hands together in a very silent hall. Awkward.

After a spectacular performance by conductor James Levine and the orchestra, we again retreated to the reception area, where we watched a runway show featuring 11 gowns designed by area fashion proteges.

View a slide show featuring all of the gowns here.

Models strutted down the catwalk in handmade evening wear designs constructed by students from Lasell College, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Mount Ida College. For the competition, they were asked to listen to Mozart’s music and base their designs on his work.

The audience voted for a crowd favorite, and judges Jonathan Soroff, from the Improper Bostonian, fashion designer Denise Hajjar, and Tonn, executive director of Tonn Model Management, agreed on the winner.

Lowander Lee from MassArt took home the prize for both the crowd’s and judge’s favorite pick. Her reward? A page in Boston Common magazine, and a $1000 shopping spree in Bloomingdale’s Y.E.S. department. Lee constructed her gorgeous cocktail length gown out of sheet music printed on metallic silver, black, and purple paper. She cut tiny hearts out of the paper, then sewed them all together to create the gown.

What would Mozart say if he saw his notes cut up into tiny hearts?

“Make it work, dahling. Make it work!”

-Photo by William Downey for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.