Jason Koski/University Photography

Norvella Dunwoody models a dress by this years high school fashion design award winner Alyssa Kim.

For her sketch of an unusual gown that resembles a tree but is made of electrical wires, Alyssa Kim, a senior from Paramus High School in New Jersey, won first place in the 2012 Cornell Design Award contest, outshining 150 entries from around the country.

At the Cornell Fashion Collective spring fashion show April 28, she had the honor of striding down the runway alongside her fanciful creation -- meant to harmonize nature and technology and evoke the contest theme, "Our Dichotomous World."

"I was proud of my design concept, but I could not believe I won," said Kim. "It was surprising the way they rendered it -- it stuck so well to the design. This whole experience was unreal."

In the weeks prior to the show, apparel design students Jocelyn Wu '14, Madeline Miles '14 and Abby Spatz '14 brought Kim's vision to life under the direction of contest director Susan Ashdown, the Helen G. Canoyer Professor. They could not fabricate the gown entirely from wires as Kim envisioned, but the floor-length gown, in hues of purple, blue and gold, came to life with a blend of digital printing, natural wool roving and computer cables.

"The team had to come up with the optimal methodology to realize the design," Ashdown said. "And I knew sewing wire onto the dress all the way around would not fit the body well -- we had to come up with another way of expressing what [Kim] had drawn so beautifully."

To create the design's technological façade, the team created cabling over the full surface of the dress using digital printing and trapunto -- a method of stitching shapes onto fabric that are stuffed from behind to create dimension.

"We were interpreting the design as it was created," said Wu.

Spatz agreed, saying, "It was especially appealing to create the shape; it really honors the body." Miles added, "The lines on the skirt are really flattering -- a new thing I hadn't seen before."

When model Norvella Dunwoody '12 strolled down the runway, the estimated crowd of 3,000 people was treated to the dual nature of the dress.

"I think that her work definitely was very compelling in terms of the theme. It really gave the organic feeling at the first look, but then as we understand what it is actually made of, it gives a strong indication of the dichotomy between those two ideas," Ashdown said. "A lot of the contest entries split the body in half, but Alyssa's design blended the concepts of nature and technology well."

The contest, organized by the Department of Fiber Science & Apparel Design in the College of Human Ecology, was judged by three FSAD alumni and a faculty member. Second place went to Alex Yarally, a student at Manhattan's High School of Art and Design, and third place to Yea Weon Kim, a student at The Gunnery School in Washington, Conn.

"We knew that there were talented high school students out there, but the range in scope and the variety of talent is mind-blowing," Ashdown said.

Dani Corona '15 is a student communications assistant for the College of Human Ecology.