[label style=”info”]Web Exclusive[/label] Natalie Palter, class of 2012, walked the red carpet with her winning design, a powder blue Grecian gown accentuated with crystal baguettes around the waist and décolletage. The Grand Prize Winner of designer Adrianna Papell’s Red Carpet Design Contest, Palter won $2,500 and appeared on E! Entertainment’s “Countdown to the Red Carpet Academy Awards” special on the day of the Oscars.
Still in awe of her experience, Palter says, “Presenting something I was so proud of on national television was something I hadn’t expected to happen this year. Or any year in the near future.”
Indeed, her journey from San Mateo to the red carpet started off in a rush. Palter, a freshman studying fashion design at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, discovered the contest from fliers around her school. Palter says, “I kind of forgot about [the contest] until the last night, two hours before the deadline, when my friend reminded me about it. So I quickly drew up a sketch and sent it in.”
“I really wanted to do a grecian gown, because I have always loved illustrations of greek goddesses, and I think that they always look very regal, so I thought it would be a great look for the red carpet,” says Palter.
Out of around 700 designs submitted, Palter’s design garnered enough web votes to make it to the top 25 dresses in the first round of voting. From that pool of 25 dresses, Adrianna Papell and E! chose their favorite five and created samples of those dresses. The second round of official voting—this time on the selected five dresses—began on January 16.
Palter received overwhelming support even from strangers. “People came up to me in school bathrooms, in elevators, in my classes, and told me, ‘Your dress is beautiful! I’ve been voting. I hope you win!’…Since I’m at a small school, I guess word is bound to get around.”
Word did indeed get around, carrying Palter through to the next round of the contest. Palter says, “I had just sat down in my philosophy class when I got the call, so I ran outside and they told me I was in the top five. I didn’t know what to do with myself. I had to sit through my entire philosophy class until I could call and tell anyone. It was the longest one hour and 15 minutes of my life.” After the final round of voting in January, Palter received a call telling her that she was the Grand Prize Winner.
Accompanied by her mother, Palter traveled to Los Angeles the Saturday before the Academy Awards, picked up her red carpet credentials, and traversed Hollywood. “My mom quizzed me on possible interview questions that night, because they hadn’t told me what they were going to ask, and [I] went to sleep early because I had to be up at 6 a.m. the next day. I woke up and did my hair and makeup as best I could…I was in the lobby and ‘camera ready’ at 8:45.”
On the red carpet, E! news anchor Ashlyn Gorse interviewed Palter about her design. “As it got closer to my segment, they put me in front of the camera, and I talked to Ashlyn for a bit, who is just as personable and friendly in person as she seems on TV…I was surprisingly not nervous at all. I knew this was something I was proud of, and I knew what I wanted to say about it,” says Palter, “It was the weirdest thing seeing myself on TV next to something that I had designed, brought to life. But it felt absolutely amazing.”
After Palter’s whirlwind embrace with fame, she has returned to Marist. Palter says, “I’ll continue my studies and hope that I get an internship this summer that will help me to further my knowledge…this contest has put my name out into the fashion industry, which is a big deal, especially for an 18-year-old college freshman.”
Still, Palter remains grounded. “My friends call me [a Marist celebrity], and definitely a lot more people know who I am now and approach me. But it feels like nothing has really changed, and I’m back at school studying for midterms. But even some people I know definitely like to joke, ‘Hey, aren’t you that girl from TV?’”
Palter continues, “It was funny though; the few days after the red carpet segment aired, I got around 70 friend requests—from Marist and Aragon students, from my friends, roommates, family, and friends. [I accepted] a few of them…but definitely not all of them. I got a few from people in different countries like Israel and India…so I did not accept those. It was a little odd.”
Along with her memories and her dress—which will be available for sale at Lord & Taylor and other retailers this June—Palter still has her $2,500 prize money to take away from her Oscar experience. “I definitely want to save it and maybe use some of it when I’m planning to study abroad in London fall semester of Junior year, but for now, it’s going in the bank.”
But that does not mean a girl cannot dream. Palter continues, “If I could, I would buy a savannah cat, which is basically a large domesticated cat that looks like a leopard, but my two cats wouldn’t like that. [Also] I’m not sure I can hide it in my dorm room.”
