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Kristin Harmel is an acclaimed author and journalist as well as the latest Raw Materials spokesmodel. Her books – which have been termed “hilarious” and “Bridget Jones-esque” include: How to Sleep With a Movie Star, The Blonde Theory, The Art of French Kissing, and When You Wish. Kristen’s journalism experience is comprised of reporting for several prestigious magazines such as People, Glamour, Woman's Day, American Baby, Teen People, Men's Health, YM and Runner's World magazines. She is no stranger to interviewing celebrities and appearing on television shows and now she can do it in style wearing Melissa’s latest Raw Materials designs.

Check out her latest appearance on Good Morning America: http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4276441

To learn more abut Kristin visit: http://www.kristinharmel.com/about.html and http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=16422743

About Melissa

"We already have everything we need, we just need to make into what we want.” This is the philosophy for the new clothing line aptly named raw materials. Where others see an obsolete pair of men’s pants, Melissa sees the perfect shape for a cocktail dress. A man's shirt has new life as a bustiere top. Ripped, stripped, twisted and turned is what salvage pieces of clothes undergo to make the transformation into their new lives as couture. Melissa sees the potential in each unwanted garment and treats it like the rare treasure that it is.

This self-taught designer has her background in advertising design. After enjoying several years as a stay at home mom, she was ready to redefine her sense of style. She wanted something fun and youthful that represented her former “style daredevil” self while still being age appropriate and daily adventure friendly for her mommy life. Since she couldn’t find a style that could multi-task as well as her and her other friends, she designed her own.

At the urging of a friend, she entered the first casting of Project Runway. With only five days to design her first collection and no real design experience, she actually made it to the semi-finals and edged out 100’s of qualified designers. The praise of editors at Elle who liked her designs was enough of a courage boost to take this idea from dining room table project to full blown business.

Originally designed as the wardrobe for the mommy set, it quickly spread to appeal to all ages-20’s -50’’s, California stylists t o Winter Park socialites. Anyone who has a hip, young attitude and a love of high fashion will love this look. Raw materials capitalizes on the individual, the uniqueness of every woman. It has a sense of strength and feminity that is becoming for all of us. Being who you are has never been so fashionable.

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