Hadas Rubinowitz
My testimonial is......I was very passionate from the beginning about this collaboration. This is a field that I believe in, and would like to explore further in the future. What we've reached is just the tip of the iceberg; we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I personally feel that this is only the beginning.

We've just started the negotiations about our designs, colors and silhouettesâ ¦ and most importantly, now, I start to understand how the person on the other side of cyberspace read and interoperated my design. I learned a lot just from looking at what SFU student Kevin understood from my sketches. As a designer, there is nothing more essential then getting a visual understanding of your designs and, of course, the excitement of having your design picked by a customer. In this case, the customer is shopping for a garment that would be interesting enough to be an AVATAR, and boy, do we need fashionable 3D role models on the web (Lora Croft, Hello? fashion disaster!!).

So as far as I can see, since I want to design, what I need most is a person that wants to make a model, and needs someone with a fine fashion taste that can read the market needs, fashion-wise. In that sense, FIT and SFU is the perfect match!

The power of a virtual mannequin is enormous and the exposure on the web is beyond understanding. This is a medium of personal expression. I can use to my advantage and invite potential costumers and customers to come and see my gallery or show room at their own time. I can place in it any artistic statement that I wish to discuss, as a designer, a photographer and an artist.

NOW I can attract people from all over the world, including my friends and family from Israel, to wander around the AMAZING virtual gallery that I was lucky enough to gain from this project. In the gallery, I chose to show art works from my past that reflect my identity, and also some new images of more recent works.

The gallery that I chose is the exact replica of the gallery I would have chosen in real life and it's unbelievable how Adobe captures the vibe of the youth and upcoming artists in Manhattan. I live in Manhattan. It's VERY expensive here and I need all the space that I can get to exhibit my art works.

This was a great opportunity for me to have a dialog with people that want to do art, understand the limited exposure that our university can provide us, and wish to have more collaborations in the future with people that feel the same way, that want to know about my existence before I go out to the industry.

Melissa Kirgan
My testimonial is......What really amazed me in collaborating with this project was the transformation and thought process that brought a single sketch into the realm of digital. Working with SFU was ultimately satisfying. The group of students that worked on this project from both schools undoubtedly feel a connection with one another though sharing inspirations and their vision of changing peoples' perception of computer animation.

Bjork's video "Army of Me" really inspired me in this project. The video is a dream-like mix of characters and imagery. Bjork rides into this video in a huge truck with a massive grill that has several bugs and butterflies trapped in it. Inside the truck is an engine of mechanical metallic teeth. After Bjork goes to the dentist (that is really a big gorilla) who finds a diamond in her mouth, she goes to the art museum to blow it up and awake an attractive guy from his instillation of slumber. Overall the video's atmosphere has a dark, futuristic, urban feel to it with immense traits of surrealism. The hairy monkey inspired me to use a nappy suede for the pants and the grill and bugs led me to add snap- on leather bugs, and leather straps that resemble the line of a grill, and that meet in the back of the calf with a basket weave, which I took from the idea of a grill being a net to the unfortunate insects. The teeth I took directly from the video, and used a metallic leather to create the hard metalness of them. I then placed them all along the edges of a vest, and stuffed them to give them a 3D appearance. The corset is of molded leather and the colorful strips of suede were inspired by the bomb Bjork used at the museum. It had wild colorful wires protruding from all directions. I used a lot of leather on the garment because the character Bjork plays is the strong, attractive, heroin of the video. I felt the strength and softness that is the quality of leather was ideal; I also happen to just have a great appreciation for leather work as well.

Together with students from Parsons and Pratt, a handful of FIT students and I have formed a non-profit organization called EMERGE geared to change fashion in NYC as we know it. The majors of the students and recent graduates involved range from menswear to womens wear, to industrial design, photography and illustration. Being of such diverse backgrounds and interests gives us a unique grasp on NY fashion. EMERGE will hold events such as exhibits and fashion shows to showcase young artists/ designers to the fashion industry and beyond. Our mission is to unleash pieces with the highest regard for innovativeness and creativity. Utilizing the technological benefits of projects like Ratava's Line and other such computer software will further propel EMERGE into creating new uses for software that better suit the needs of emerging students and of the fashion industry. Our goal is to one day have the means to reach further than the NYC limits and become an international organization symbolizing the ultimate in fashion and art. For more information feel free to contact me at Melkazet@yahoo.com

Leonid Gourevitch
First of all I would love to thank Daria, Galen, Bruce, David, everyone who is behind this incredible project. I cannot express what a joy this is for me to be part of this exciting collaboration. It is so thrilling and overwhelming seeing a character based on yourself being brought to life. So inspiring.

In the beginning, when i heard about this project, i couldn't really understand what it was all about. But the final result totally blew me away. It was like nothing I've seen before. What made it extra special is the amount of work this wonderful team came up with in such a short period of time.

As a bottom line, I would like to thank everyone again for making it all possible, for bringing it from concept to reality and most of all, for taking me on board. I'm looking forward to seeing the future of what has started out as a great journey. Thank you and good luck to you all.

Roy Kim
This project has been one of the most mind-blowing projects I have had the opportunity to be involved in. I was approached by David Aliperti with this project that I had no idea would end up this amazing. I submitted a couple of designs that were dramatic and voluminous, and would create some interesting effects in a 3D realm. The end results were more than I could ever have conceived, such as the way you could travel into and through my red and white dress. I know that this is just the beginning of the amazing things that both FIT and SFU are capable of. I am speechless and in awe of what all these creative minds joined together have acomplished. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to have contributed in some small part to this project.

Mark Joseph
Working on the project with SFU was a step into the future of designing. Placing our designs on avatars gave the designs a three- dimensional look which we cannot accomplish with just sketching. The reality of a futuristic fashion runway is not far behind. I see this as a step into the future of reaching an even larger scale of consumers and also creating many opportunities for young and upcoming designers. I am hoping that technology can we wearable and also fashionable and not look like a laptop attached to a shirt. I feel that creating garments which have screen panels and detachable keyboards and voice command operations we will soon do away with the use of carrying cell phones, pagers, palm pilots and lab tops. All of these will be included in one system which you can carry around on yourself and still look fashionable. I don't see that by going in this direction runways will be a thing of the past, but rather that this direction will enhance it and modernize it.

Jai Li
I am so happy that there are so many people working on this wonderful project. It's really a very economical and effective way to present any artist's works. The virtual galleries provide the artists so much flexiblity and money-saving to bring about a very impressive collection. I see a great future for this concept.