The School of Fashion at Academy of Art University in San Francisco, California has premiered the collections of recent graduates during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Elisa Stephens, president of Academy of Art University said, “To be a part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center is an incredible opportunity.”
The flow of shows began with Jungah Lee, M.F.A. Fashion Design, she used the faded colors of antique books as inspiration for the hand dyeing and painting of her latex and silk fabrics. Then it was Cara Chiappetta, M.F.A. Fashion Design, she found inspiration in femininity and examining how a woman is perceived. Bridget Fonda’s character Nina in the film “The Point of No Return” became Cara’s muse. Her fabric choices of rubber, silk, mesh, wool, and nylon influenced garment details, manipulations and bonding techniques.
Louie Llewellyn, M.F.A. Men’s Wear Design, and Xiang Zhang, M.F.A. Knitwear Design, used the theme of a disagreement between a hard and soft men’s wear silhouette. He designed the woven pieces with sharp edges then added softer fabrics for contrast. He used one of his favorite paintings, Incision by Jay Defeo, for the color inspiration and selected fabrics to evoke a feeling of strength and desire.
Print Collaboration – A group of Technical Design, Fashion Design and Textile Design students worked together on this collection. Technical Designers Lindsey Gong and Jackie Nguyen, Fashion Designers Anasa Greaves, Han Yoon, and Emma Erickson, Textile Designers Ruby Guerra, Gabrielle Cols, Yi-Hui Wen, Amanda Carrillo, Chanchai Tanapornwattana, Jennifer Chen, Sarah Appiah, Jennifer Filo, Adriane-Lauren Hueso, and Leah Rossi.
April Howard, M.F.A. Fashion Design she was inspired by the work of found objects sculptor Kathy Kelley, the decaying concrete and plastic of an urban wasteland, and Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road.” Her organic shapes and details are representative of discarded items. Camilla Olson, M.F.A. Fashion Design, inspired by the movie “Blade Runner” and samurai arts, Camilla’s collection represents women as rebels breaking the restrictions of their historically constrained roles. The soft silk under-dresses represent a woman’s inner nature and the outer ‘cage’ is her strength and armor.
And finally Maria Korovilas, M.F.A. Fashion Design, incorporated metal encrusted pieces and details into her collection. The hand beading took over 600 hours to complete. The starting point of her inspiration was the Jenny Lewis song “You Are What You Love” from which she pulled visual and conceptual references for her moody collection.
