Carleigh Rose and Annihka Murray said they could not have asked for a better way to end their careers at Iowa State.

The seniors in apparel, merchandising, design and production created a piece called “Bric-a-Brac Bouquet” that not only took the celebrated best in show award but took first in wearable art and in digital print at the Fashion Show 2012.

Rose and Murray’s design process started last December when both students started putting together mood boards for the garment they collectively made.

“We didn’t want it to be too strong in an era,” Rose said. “We added a historical twist to the dress with a 1960s silhouette and Victorian-era detail.”

Both students found inspiration from garments in the Mary Alice Gallery along with Victorian-era architecture.

Rose and Murray also worked on the piece closely with Juyoung Lee, graduate student in apparel, events and hospitality management. Not only was “Bric-a-Brac Bouquet” part of the Fashion Show, but for both students it was an independent study course in itself. Rose said they worked cohesively as a team for at least five hours a week on the garment.

“Bric-a-Brac Bouquet” displayed fashion in an innovative medium. The dress featured flowers that were digitally printed onto the garment.

“They weren’t pictures off Google or anything. The flowers were pictures we took ourselves,” Rose said.

Some of the pictures were of Monet’s garden in France where students visited during a study-abroad program. Along with using the printing technology, Rose and Murray wasted no fabric. Both students spent hours making appropriate patterns that would use each piece of fabric they bought.

Their authentic garment also can be worn multiple ways, as displayed on the runway by model Anna Morris. At a flick of the model’s wrist, the garment would transform.

“On the runway, we showed three to four ways to wear it, but there’s more ways,” Rose said.

Both designers spent an hour working with the model to perfect her strut in order to display the garment’s inventiveness.

When asked who would wear such a garment of this maintenance, Rose said that it would be someone who would consider it a piece of art and would want to make a statement.

The winning garments will be on display in Lebaron Hall starting April 30.