For 20 aspiring fashion designers, this week begins the exciting journey from sketchbook to sewing machine to runway. Charleston Fashion Week^® (CFW) has selected the Top Design 20 semifinalists to compete in its sixth annual Emerging Designer Competition: East (EDC:E), to be held March 19-23, 2013, in conjunction with CFW. CFW has also selected a winner for its Emerging Bridal Design Competition. The EDC:E has been instrumental in helping aspiring fashion designers break into the notoriously rigorous industry by providing the tools of the trade and unprecedented exposure to fashion’s biggest names.

Chosen from hundreds of applicants throughout 21 states, the Top Design 20 Emerging Designer semifinalists will each create a full fall 2013 collection to be debuted on CFW’s runway this March. In addition, CFW has selected Brooke Ray as the 2013 Emerging Bridal Design winner who will debut her collection at Charleston Weddings magazine Spring Bridal show on March 23, 2013. The producers of CFW, the renowned launching pad for careers in fashion, will assist the semifinalists again this year with model casting, hair and makeup, and overall production for their Charleston Fashion Week^® shows, ensuring each designer’s work is presented at the highest-caliber standards.

The 2013 Top Design 20 Emerging Designer Competition: East semifinalists are: Afriyie Poku, Callie Nichol, Cassidy Brown, Clarissa Arocena and Bryan Datinguinoo, Hope Wallace, Hyemin Cho, Jazsalyn McNeil, Karen Hulse, Katherine Barron, Kendra Duplantier, Kita Nolley, Lulu Long, Mary Katherine Schweitzer, Megan Huntz, Monisha Pillai, Roz Morris, Sabrina Spanta, Serena da Conceição, and Victoria Cid. The 2013 Emerging Bridal Design winner is Brooke Ray.

The panel of fashion experts that selected the Top Design 20 included designers and CFW veterans, Sarah Parrott and Nikki Poulos, both of whom have gone onto great success including NBC’s Fashion Star, and Cator Sparks, editor in chief of TheManual.com. Mr. Sparks, an acclaimed fashion industry journalist, has written for a variety of publications including T Magazine, The Huffington Post, ELLE Décor, Vanity Fair, and Style.com. Modern Trousseau’s Callie Tein and Charleston Weddings’ Melissa Bigner were panelists for the Bridal Design competition.

Sparks said of the experience, “I am very excited to see the finalists get the time and space they deserve in such a professional atmosphere as Charleston Fashion Week^®. Bloggers and editors take note!”

To learn more about the 2013 Top Design 20 Emerging Designer Competition: East semifinalists and the 2013 Emerging Bridal Design winner, click here.

To see CFW success stories, guests, and what’s in store for CFW 2013, click here.