7 Winners, Including Top 4 Designers, Announced at ‘Dress to Impress’

Kathmandu: Four designers have been declared winners in the 12th season of ‘Dress to Impress,’ a blend of fashion designing and modeling. A total of 119 fashion designers participated in the competition. 

In the competitive event organized by IIFT: School of Fashion and Interior Design, the organizers provided designers with four themes: ‘Denim Feature,’ ‘Glam in Patch,’ ‘Exotic Fauna,’ and ‘Echoes of Time.’ Rejina Shrestha emerged as the winner in the Denim Feature category, Pratik Gurung in Glam in Patch, Imayung Rai in Exotic Fauna, and Yuyan Wang (Selina Shahi) in Echoes of Time.

Winners were also selected based on social media competition during the event held Thursday evening at the Pragya Pratisthan in Kamaladi. Neelam Das won the IIFT Most Liked Legend Award, Ayusha Shrestha won the IIFT Stormous Shared Champion Award, and Pramila Shrestha secured the IIFT Public Choice Award. All winning designers were honored with cash prizes and awards.

The judging panel for selecting the best designers consisted of six prominent Nepali fashion designers: Mahesh Maharjan, Mukta Shrestha, Nisha Shrestha, Manish Rai, Anchu Pandey, and Ankit Maiti.

The event featured former FNCCI President Bhawani Rana as the chief guest. Showstoppers on the stage included former Miss Nepal International 2017 and actress Niti Shah, ‘Miss Nepal World 2025’ Luna Luitel, ‘Miss Nepal Cosmo 2025’ Deepshikha Nepal, ‘Miss Nepal International 2025’ Urusha Bhandari, and ‘Miss Nepal Earth 2025’ Soni Ghale.

IIFT has been organizing this program for the past decade. Through ‘Dress to Impress,’ IIFT provides additional fashion knowledge to its diploma students and presents their creations to the general public. Designers themselves showcase the outfits they have prepared, allowing them to also gain knowledge about modeling.

IIFT, which has become a hub for aspiring fashion designers, offers diploma and advanced courses in fashion designing. Located at Bagbazar Plaza and Heritage Plaza in Kamaladi, Kathmandu, as well as Kumaripati in Lalitpur, IIFT also offers courses in interior design.

According to IIFT Managing Director Phupu Tenzing Sherpa, the ‘Dress to Impress’ competition has provided fashion design students an opportunity to gather further knowledge and experience. He stated, “Fashion designing is a creative task that requires a stage to reach the public. Accordingly, we have continued ‘Dress to Impress’ for the students.”