Q & A with Samantha Sleeper

Last week, SHE had the pleasure of a visit from Samantha Sleeper, the designer behind N PRPA.
Besides being the sweetest, Sam is a young, creative, ambitious, and up and coming designer that you should all keep your eyes on.

Samantha recently won Lord & Taylor's Love At First Sight contest, and we wanted to know MORE!

Q: How did you hear about this contest? What was the contest all about?
Sam: The contest was held for graduating students from Parson's School of Design, which is where I went. 10 contestants were chosen based on the submitted designs to make their designs come to life. We were given a $100 budget for creating the dress, and had one model fitting.

Q: What was the inspiration behind your design?
Sam: The concept of the contest was to re-invent the little black dress by making it edgy chic with an 80s prom feel.

When was the show? What was the prize for winning?
Sam: The show was November 9th. The winner would have their dress put into production starting in Spring 2010 and would sell at all Lord & Taylor stores for under $300. The proceeds would go to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Needless to say, Samantha won the contest. What she didn't expect, was to see her design sketch in a 15 ft. Lord & Taylor window on New York's famous 5th Ave.






"It is such good exposure for up and coming designers!"- Samantha