Even though Luo Chenxi was very confident about her work, she did not expect her work to be worthy enough to alert an important expert of the profession like Sheng Yu.
After the blonde-haired man left, a few designers surrounded Luo Chenxi and asked her some questions.
In the end, the man with the small mustache said, “Miss Xing Chen, we’ll still need to continue the audition for the rest of the participants. Will you please head to the next room and wait for a while? Chief Sheng will be back in about an hour.”
“So…did I pass the audition?”
“Passed, passed, of course, you’ve passed!” He nodded repeatedly.
He considered for a moment before he reminded her by saying, “Next, you have a month to prepare. You’re going to transform your designs into ready-to-wear garments. You must make the best use of the time and perform well. I’m putting high hopes on you!”
Luo Chenxi thanked the man before she returned to the meeting room next door.
The participants were called into the audition one by one. The process lasted for an entire morning.
Most people appeared miserable when they came back from the audition. One could make a guess of the audition results based on their expressions.
Zuo Xiaoqing was beaming with joy when she returned to the meeting room. The only thing missing from her face was the words ‘I passed the audition’.
She could not help sniggering aloud when she saw Luo Chenxi sitting quietly in the corner without making a sound. “I thought you were very talkative earlier. Why aren’t you talking now? I bet you know how poor your level of professionalism is, don’t you? The Chinese Style Competition is a contest of designers’ expertise and not appearance. Some people are…hmm, too confident of themselves.”
Luo Chenxi swept her gaze over Zuo Xiaoqing. “Where did the fly come from? Why is it buzzing about noisily all the time?”
“Who did you just call a fly?” Zuo Xiaoqing demanded in rage.
All of a sudden, the door of the meeting room was pushed open once again.
The designer with the small mustache walked over and swept his gaze over the crowd once. “The audition for the first batch of participants has already ended. I’m going to announce the results on behalf of the organizing committee.”
Upon hearing that, everyone perked up. They sat upright and looked at him in anticipation.
“Number 1, Chu Heng. Number 3…Number 7…Number 12, Xing Chen…Number 16…Number 20, Zuo Xiaoqing. The six aforementioned participants have qualified for the semifinals of the competition. You’ll need to prepare many things for the semifinals. Every participant is to produce a series of ready-to-wear garments and accessories. Afterward, you’ll be contacted by our staff. Please head back and get ready.”
The man then turned around and was prepared to leave when he was done with the announcement.
Zuo Xiaoqing was on the edge of her seat after hearing the audition results. She stood up with an astonished expression and called out to the man, “Wait, Teacher Andy. Please hold on. Is there any part of the announcement that you’ve mistaken?”
Even though many designers were fond of using monikers and not their real names just like how Luo Chenxi did not use her real name for registration, Zuo Xiaoqing had seen the number listed on Luo Chenxi’s portfolio earlier and knew that her number was Number 12.
Luo Chenxi had actually passed the audition as well! That was utterly impossible!
The audition was different from the preliminary round.
During the preliminary screening, every participant would only need to provide five design sketches. It was genuinely possible for Luo Chenxi to pass the preliminary round by luck with her art foundation from high school.
However, every participant was required to bring along an entire portfolio during the audition. The content of the portfolio should not just contain design sketches but also the design idea for the entire fashion series, the structure of every piece of garment, fabric, material quality, pattern, and so on.
The world of fashion design was not based upon one’s creativity as imagined by the layman. The art of making a garment was completely different from just drawing a few sketches.
Many laymen could draw design sketches that looked genuinely beautiful. However, when the design was produced as a ready-to-wear garment, it was utterly incapable of achieving the same effect as the sketch. That would end up as a failed design.
The process involved lots of professional knowledge and flow paths that could only be learned in the reputable academies of fine arts. It was utterly impossible for Luo Chenxi to learn about these from her low-class university.
