STYLE COUNCIL: What’s A Ball Girl To Wear?

Glitter, catwalk runways and celebrity judges — sounds like your average Phillies promotional event right? Erm, maybe not. But Thursday evening local apparel designers and Phillies’ Ballgirls teamed up in a fashion show to mark the finale of the week long “Painting the Town Red” build up to yesterday’s opening game. Although, apparent to anyone that has ever been to a Philadelphia sports event, these are fans that need no pumping to get Phanatical about the home team, the Phillies’ promotional team ran events all week to get fans hyped for the home opener against the Houston Astros — and in the process proved that Baseball isn’t just for boys. The Phillies’ Ballgirl fashion competition held at Macy’s in Center City Thursday featured 14 local up-and-coming designers vying for the title of “MVP of fashion design” with the winner determining the Phillies Ballgirl’s off-field uniform this year. Their attempts were showcased in front of a crowd at the Macy’s Center City store Thursday and then judged by a panel of local celebrities and fashion experts. The panel included David Buck the Senior Vice President of Marketing for The Phillies; Kristin Munro, Editor in Chief for the Philadelphia Style magazine; Damian Muziani, Better Philly host; Jenice Armstrong, columnist for Philadelphia Daily News; and Macys’ representatives Marissa Nicolaesscu and Donna Hartcastle. Judges were were looking for creativity, practicality and true representation of the Phillies’ brand. The range of styles and talent on display at the event was tremendous, with each designer was matched up to a Phillies Ballgirl to design for. The creations ranged from classic modern sportswear, which exuded both comfort and practicality, to extravagant pieces inspired by 50’s retro as well as others showered in glitter and diamante. Honorable mention goes to Jessica Hume Morris’ creation, which boldly stepped out of the usual spandex and lycra sportswear box and created a wonderful retro piece. Using the Phillies red and white as a basis for her one piece suit, her design really stood out amongst the other sport casual looks. However, the design may well have been too high fashion and not practical enough as the judges chose Jessica Mintz’s simple sports dress design as their winner. Mintz said that hers also was retro inspired and she said she “wanted something simple and chic,” and that’s exactly what she produced. — REBECCA GOODACRE