Downy and Gen Art Partner with Three Emerging Fashion Designers for New Product Launch

CINCINNATI, Feb. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Last night, Downy, in collaboration with Gen Art, the leading arts and entertainment organization dedicated to showcasing emerging talent, hosted a fashion event to celebrate the partnership with three emerging designers to begin an interactive journey where fragrance will inspire fashion like never before.

"For years, fashion has inspired fragrance," said style expert Jacqui Stafford. "Perfumers and experts suggest that fragrance has been linked to fashion as far back as the 18th Century. Now, driven by the inspiration of the new Downy Simple Pleasures Radiance Collection, three designers will give us a glimpse at how the fragrances of the new Collection are inspiring their creative minds to craft beautiful pieces of clothing."

Downy has hand picked three emerging designers Lara Miller of "Lara Miller Ltd.", Khary Septh of "gayle met glenn", and Jerry Tam of "FORM", each with unique styles and inspirations that will bring "radiance" to life. They have been armed with the task of creating three pieces that are inspired by Downy's new line of liquid fabric softeners, Downy Simple Pleasures Radiance Collection.

"Since Downy has been at the forefront of transforming fabrics for almost 50 years, this partnership shows the brand is taking an important step into moving us into the world of fashion," said Mary Pochobradsky, Marketing Director, North America Downy. "Now, consumers can play a part in discovering how fragrance inspires fashion as Lara, Jerry and Khary usher us into their world of how the fragrances of the Downy Simple Pleasures Radiance Collection inspire their creative minds to craft pieces of clothing that visibly bring the new product to life."

Beginning February 19, 2008, consumers will be able to take part in the designers' online journeys to each create three pieces inspired by The Radiance Collection. Consumers can log on to DiscoveringRadiance.com to join the journey by creating their own mood boards, a visual collage that represents their moods and thoughts, that will ultimately aid Lara, Khary and Jerry in creating lines of clothing inspired by the three scents of the new Collection: Amethyst Mist, Turquoise Frost and Pink Opal.

After the six week design phase, the three finished lines will be unveiled on DiscoveringRadiance.com, where consumers have until April 14, 2008 to log on and vote for their favorite designer. After the voting phase is complete, the winning designer will choose the mood board that best inspired them. The consumer that created the mood board of the winning designer will be announced on May 19, 2008 and will win a trip for two to attend the 2009 People's Choice Awards, where the winning design will be showcased on the red carpet.

From the same perfumers that brought to life the scents of brands including Valentino, Escada, and Lacoste, comes the new Downy Simple Pleasures Radiance Collection, a new line of fabric enhancers that offers luxurious smelling fragrances for your fabrics. Launching in February, the new Collection also features Perfume Micro Capsule (PMC) scent technology that deposits microscopic capsules of perfume onto fabrics during the rinse cycle which rest in your fabrics when washing is completed. These aromatic perfumes are released with friction throughout wear, creating a burst of fragrance.

To learn more about the new Downy Simple Pleasures Radiance Collection and Downy's collaboration with Lara Miller, Khary Septh and Jerry Tam, please visit www.DiscoveringRadiance.com.

About Procter & Gamble

Three billion times a day, P&G brands touch the lives of people around the world. The company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers(R), Tide(R), Ariel(R), Always(R), Whisper(R), Pantene(R), Mach3(R), Bounty(R), Dawn(R), Gain(R), Pringles(R), Folgers(R), Charmin(R), Downy(R), Lenor(R), Iams(R), Crest(R), Oral-B(R), Actonel(R), Duracell(R), Olay(R), Head & Shoulders(R), Wella(R), Gillette(R), and Braun(R). The P&G community consists of 138,000 employees working in over 80 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.

About Gen Art

The Gen Art Foundation is a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt charity that supports emerging talent in the visual arts, fashion, music and film. The foundation provides educational programming for such talent in the form of seminars and networking events that assist designers in navigating the challenges they face in their respective industries. The foundation also provides direct grants to emerging talent in connection with specific Gen Art programs. The foundation also works with Gen Art to ensure that all opportunities for emerging talent at Gen Art events are free of charge to the talent, leaving the participating talent able to focus their energies solely on producing their work. www.genart.org