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Judges

Five fashion-media professionals will decide which garments are outstanding enough to make it to the runway. Our judges select the best looks for the runway in each of the specializations -- special occasion, intimate apparel, knitwear, children's wear, and sportswear.

Kate BettsKate Betts

Kate Betts is the author of the new book Everyday Icon: Michelle Obama and the Power of Style. She is a contributing editor at TIME magazine and also a contributor to The Daily Beast. Previously, Betts was the editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar and the fashion news director of Vogue. Betts was recently named one of the top 10 fashion editors by Forbes magazine. She has appeared on network and cable television regularly since 1993, including The Today Show, The View and The Charlie Rose Show. She is a frequent contributor to NPR’s Marketplace and has done regular reporting for CNN. A graduate of Princeton University, she resides in New York City with her husband and two children.

 

 Lilliana Vazquez

Lilliana Vazquez is a style expert, online entrepreneur, and in-demand television personality who has appeared on networks such as ABC, Bravo, CBS, FOX, NBC, and The Style Network. She is a regular contributor to TBS’s Movie and a Makeover and the syndicated Nate Berkus Show, and is a lifestyle correspondent for NBC New York’s New York Live. She is also the founder and editor-in-chief of The Cheap Chica’s Guide to Style, an online resource for fashionistas on a budget, which boasts a monthly readership of 250,000.

Vazquez’s on-air and online presence has resulted in partnerships and spokesperson roles with brands such as Estée Lauder, H&M, LOFT, Macy’s, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx, and she has been featured in Elle, Glamour, InStyle, Lucky, Marie Claire, Teen Vogue, Women’s Health, and Women’s Wear Daily.
Laura BrownLaura Brown

Harper’s Bazaar’s features/special projects director Laura Brown joined the magazine in 2005. In addition to booking all of Bazaar’s covers, Laura puts the fun back in fashion: she sent The Simpsons to the Paris fashion shows, America’s greatest designers to Sesame Street and has collaborated with famed directors Mike Nichols, Pedro Almodovar and Tim Burton on film and fashion portfolios.

Brown broke the exclusive interview with Janet Jackson after the death of her brother Michael and has profiled Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Drew Barrymore, Kate Winslet, and Cameron Diaz, among others. She is a featured judge alongside Iman and Isaac Mizrahi on Bravo’s The Fashion Show and appears regularly on programs including Good Morning America, CNN American Morning, and Entertainment Tonight. Before joining Harper’s Bazaar, Brown was articles director at Details and senior editor at W. She relocated to New York from Australia in 2001.

 Alana KelenAlana Kelen

Fashion stylist and FIT alumna Alana Kelen uses her keen sense of clothing and accessories, along with a penchant for detail, to create unique, appropriate, and trend-setting images for television personalities and celebrities. Her forte is working with real people in real situations, helping to make them feel comfortable in the clothes they are wearing while looking amazing on air, in print and real life.

After graduating from FIT, Kelen worked at VH1 as a fashion stylist. Today, she remains with the company as head stylist of the VH1 Wardrobe department, while also consulting with MTV, NBC, Bravo, InStyle Magazine, Life & Style, Maxim, Billboard Magazine, Hollywood Life, Weight Watchers Magazine, Nautica, Michael Kors, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, and many private clients and advertising agencies.
Joe Zee

Joe Zee, Advertising and Marketing ’92, is creative director of Elle. His previous positions include fashion director at W, contributing fashion editor at Details and House & Garden, and editor in chief of both the men's and women's editions of Vitals.

As a stylist, Zee has collaborated with many of fashion’s most renowned photographers – including Patrick Demarchelier, Alexei Hay, Annie Leibovitz, Carter Smith, Juergen Teller, and Bruce Weber – and has worked on campaigns for Banana Republic, Chanel, DKNY, Estèe Lauder, The Gap, H&M, Kenneth Cole, M.A.C Cosmetics, and more. An in-demand fashion expert, he has appeared such programs as Extra, Good Morning America, and Today, and he is the host of the Sundance Channel's All on the Line with Joe Zee, where he serves as an adviser to aspiring designers.