Fashion designer Isabel Toledo was privileged as Marymount University’s 2010 Designer of the Year at the university’s annual “Portfolio in Motion” student fashion show, held April 22.

Toledo has been designing for more than 25 years; she has received approval for her creative vision and attention to detail, cut, and nuance, and gained even greater recognition when First Lady Michelle Obama selected her lemongrass yellow wool lace dress and overcoat to wear to the inauguration.

Marymount students from across the university modeled the jury-selected creations of the fashion design students as they walked the runway intended by fashion merchandising students. Set design, lighting, music, and choreography bring the grown-up dolls’ world to life.

Upon accepting the award, Toledo congratulated the students on their spirit of modernism, saying, “You did a beautiful job and beautiful staging, too.”

Toledo told them, keep your enthusiasm; that gets you through extremely everything.