Design student Zhang Yinan's dream came true Monday when she beat out 53 other young designers at the Paris-Shanghai Fashion Design Contest.

As the winner, the 23-year-old junior student from Donghua University will get a one-year scholarship sponsored by French fashion house Sonia Rykiel to study a course in fashion management at ESMOD Paris Fashion School.

She will also be offered an internship with Rykiel design house.

"I'm pretty much overwhelmed by the result," said Zhang. "I can't believe that I have the chance to work with Sonia Rykiel face to face. Two years ago I went to the Shanghai Fashion Culture Festival where her collection was presented along with Missoni and Lanvin. I was impressed by her creativity. I was rather narrow-minded about knitting then. I thought it should only be used for either a sweater or a scarf. But Rykiel can make everything interesting by adding a touch of knitting."

The contest started last December, attracting design students from local schools such as Shanghai University's Paris Mod'art International Institute of Fashion and Arts, Donghua University and IFA Paris Shanghai. Eleven contestants made it to the final round of the competition.

Winnie Schweitzer, representative from Sonia Rykiel company, says that Zhang's winning entry was most close to Rykiel's design philosophy. "The visible codes of black, stripes, metal elements on sweaters, and all that make her design very Rykiel."

(Shanghai Daily April 19, 2005)