Four talented student-designers bring home the gold for their innovative and inventive costume, which debuted at the inaugural Metropolitan Opera Akhnaten Design Challenge. Four Brooklyn College costume design students from the Department of Theater have won the Metropolitan Opera Akhnaten Design Challenge, presented at The People’s Ball on May 1 at the Brooklyn Public Library. The students—Brittani Beresford, Rosie Henderson, Andrej Nawoj, and Anna Splitz—presented their work on a runway in front of approximately 3,000 guests and high-profile or celebrity judges, including actress Gina Gershon and other notables from the design and theater world. Their project, which responded to the contest’s theme of “duality,” was based on a concept that incorporated the Madonna-Whore complex. Judges evaluated the costumes on the materials used, craftsmanship, and response to the duality theme. “This was an incredible honor and serves to recognize the level of professionalism our students already possess in this field” said Associate Professor Teresa Snider-Stein, head of the costume design program and design producer. “It takes an enormous amount of skill, talent, research, and hard work to develop a design idea and bring it to life. It is not just about the actual construction of the costume itself; there is the research and the development of ideas. We are so proud of these students’ incredible accomplishment.”
