User:Stelariii/Stephen Suede Baum

Stephen Suede Baum new article content ... Stephen "Suede" Baum born Stephen Whitney Baum (12) (Born December 19, 1970) is an independent American fashion designer. He is also notable as a contestant on the fifth season of the hit Bravo television series Project Runway.

Baum, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, graduated from Normandy High School in 1989 (1) and Kent State University in Kent, Ohio in 1993 (2-3). After finishing a degree in fashion design, and garnering the nick name "Suede" during his college years, "Suede" moved to New York City and interned with Geoffrey Beene on Mr. Beene's Couture collection.

"Suede" created his first evening wear collection which premiered at the Cleveland Center of Contemporary Arts alongside some very prominent designers. "Suede" went on to launch many well known brands including, Fubu Ladies, Rocawear Girls, Lee 1889, Jordache Vintage, Polo Jeans Company and Todd Oldhman Jeans. He also worked for Old Navy, Phillips Van-Heusen and Vanity Fair Corporation.

"It's really about designing styles that are saleable and understandable as well as hip and cool -- I often have to be a chameleon," he was quoted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer during an interview in 2004.

Project Runway: (4) Season five of Project Runway first aired on July 16, 2008. Episode two "Grass is always Greener" contestant designers were tasked with creating a red carpet look for young hollywood, but were not permitted to buy their own fabrics. Each contestants model went to Mood Fabrics and selected fabrics that each designer would use to create their look. Suede won this challenge, which was judged in part by guest judge Natalie Portman, the actress. Over 250 pieces of this dress were manufactured and sold on Bluefly.com. (5) Suede was eliminated after making it to the top five, but was brought back to show a collection during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City. (6)

As "Suede" spoke in third person during the entirety of the Project Runway show, he has aptly named his collection "SUEDEsays™." (10 - 11)

Life after the Runway: After Project Runway, in 2009, Suede was inducted into the Kent State University Fashion Hall of Fame alongside many of America's top designers. (7)

At the end of 2009, PBS Broadcast created and aired a special segment about "Suede" on the Applause show hosted by Dee Perry. (8)

In 2010 Suede created custom work for the Craft and Hobby Association in Chicago utilizing a new machine, the eCraft by Craftwell. (9)

References: (1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_High_School_(Ohio) (2) http://www.cleveland.com/tv/index.ssf/2008/07/project_runway_may_be_made_of.html (3) http://blog.cleveland.com/pdextra/2008/07/kent_state_grad_stephen_whitne.html (4) http://www.bravotv.com/project-runway (5) http://flypaper.bluefly.com/archives/2008/07/own-suedes-winning-project-run-1.html (6) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPb_sEkrMvU (7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Kent_State_University_alumni (8) http://www.wviz.org/index.php/WVIZ/applause/29146/ (9) http://craftwellusa.com/pages/suede-designs-for-ecraft (10) http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=suede+thrid+person&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 (11) http://suedesays.com/ (12) http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3073345/