Twelve student and alumni designers from The Art Institutes displayed their work on the NYFW runways. I find that each design school has a distinct look. For The Art Institutes, the silhouettes were easier, draped, more fabric focused than silhouette-focused than schools like FIT or Parsons.
Colors were muted. There were different shades of grey, neutral black and white, brown, mustard. Even their pop colors of red or orange were dark and muddied. The looks on the catwalk were shown to highlight the properties of the materials. Whether it was the sheen of laminated check fabric or the drape of a silk or the hefty texture of over-sized crochet sweaters.
Mentors for this collection of designers included Douglas Hannant, Thuy Diep, Calvin Klein Intimates designer David Siedlarczyk and Daniela Anastasio Bardazzi, creative director over Etienne Aigner. The designers themselves included representatives of different Art Institutes locations. Some of the designers included from Grace Ahn of Dallas, Daniela Ramirez of San Francisco, Parker Trumble of Miami to Jamaree Eimmanassakul of Vancouver.
The deeper theme of the collection looked to be that every look was more than meets the eye. Fabric was manipulated into shapes that would not naturally be achieved. Intricate sewing that had to be executed with surgical precision due to its sheer properties.
Congratulations to The Art Institutes Fashion Design class of 2015 and good luck in whatever city you hail from.
