Frankie Lewis is a self-trained fashion designer whose impressive resume includes working on costumes for the Louisville Ballet and P!nk’s Beautiful Trauma Tour. She has been a featured designer on the KMAC Couture: Art Walks the Runway show and has founded her own company, Ann DeEvelyn Clothing. A Louisville native, Los Angeles is her new home base, but she travels frequently to the city where it all started for her.

“I hope Card Nation is proud of me,” Frankie wrote in an email.

Frankie credits UofL, and especially the place she calls, “The Shop,” with launching her career. She graduated in 2010 with a bachelor of science degree in theater with a focus on acting and costume design/construction.

“The theater department at UofL has amazing opportunities for students, one of them being the costume shop,” she said. “There I was able to learn valuable skills that have led to so many opportunities. The relationships I’ve made there will be ones that I keep the rest of my life.”

It was her network of UofL friends and colleagues that helped Frankie land both the ballet and P!nk jobs.

“‘The Shop,’ as I call it, functions like a family,” she said, “in that different generations of students look out for or seek help from other generations. My first employee was a costume shop graduate who I never shared any actual school time with.”

Frankie said she always dreamed of being on “Project Runway,” which is in its 17th season (). She is one of 16 designers competing for the largest cash prize in the show’s history at more than $250,000.

“I’ve always dreamed of being on ‘Project Runway,’ and when I received the official call that I was chosen this year, I cried and thanked God,” she said. “My family and close friends and I are going to hang out on the couch and watch together.”

and check out her designs on and her Instagram account, @frankiee_leww. Catch the 90-minute “Project Runway” on Bravo at 8 p.m. EST.

Not only will , but costume shop will also once again sponsor two categories in the Textile Division of the fair competition. The shop has been doing this for more than a decade under the leadership of Melissa Shepherd, costume shop coordinator and adjunct professor.  

The textile competition features participants from all over the state, including UofL students. In the past, Shepherd has required that students participate in a category that she doesn’t judge.

“When we did that, we had a very successful year. The costume shop was fully represented and every student won something in their category,” she said.

Students who participate are able to keep their projects for their graduate school portfolios.

Not only has this involvement been a benefit for UofL students, it has also worked as a nice

recruitment tool, Shepherd said.

“We always get submissions from all over the state, so this is a good way for us to see what specific talent is out there that would fit UofL,” Shepherd said.

Shepherd’s supervisor, resident costume designer Zhanna Goldentul, has supported the project every year it has been a part of the Theatre Department.

In addition to managing the costume shop and serving as an adjunct faculty member, Shepherd also serves as the costume designer for the traveling . She is also one of the directors of the Rep Company, working with existing scripts or devising original work to take into local elementary schools throughout the year.

When not at UofL, Shepherd works as a performer for local theater groups, including Stage One Children’s Theater and Center Stage at the JCC. She is a graduate of UofL’s Theatre Arts Department, earning an MFA in Performance in 2001.