This year I was the judge for ELLE’s annual FIT fashion competition. I was along side judges Christina Ricci, Alexa Chung, Brad Goreski, Steven Alan and Ken Downing from Neimans, who were all the co-judges of the competition.

There were about 20 contestants and each were tutored by Anne Slowey and Joe Zee from Elle. The top honors are ELLE’s FASHION | NEXT Design Award ($25,000), Maybelline New York Design Awards ($25,000) and a third prize, the People’s Choice Award, worth $10,000, is being chosen by users on ELLE.com.

It’s always a horrible feeling judging someone’s talent, but at the end, I try to analyze their skill, craft, color sensibility and long term potential in the market place.

You can see a slide show on Elle.com by clicking here.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

Me on the step and repeat.

Ken Downing and I.

Some of the judges.

Brad and Christina sharing a moment.