Organic Matter: Pratt & Pucci Collaboration

Think your sweater is exciting? Fashion design students from the Pratt Institute worked with designer Ralph Pucci on an innovative knitwear project at Gallery Nine in New York City.  Ralph Pucci has created a specialized mannequin collection.  The design students were tasked with making organic, wearable art using neutral colored yarns to complement the body form muse.

The exhibit was a competition among the 30 looks in the exhibit and will be judged by some of the design world's elite like textile designer Dana Barnes, architect Patrick Naggar and photographer Diego Uchitel.

I like this exhibit for how it blends multiple forms of product design together and treats the clothing as sculpture.  The unprocessed colors of the yarns used and the sprawling, organic looks of the knits achieve a vibe of clothing that seems alive on the mannequin.

Designers pictured above include Kiet Tran, Kimi Lee, Meghan O'Sullivan, Chantal Galipeau, Katherine Daskas and Kat Holland.

The exhibit runs until Tuesday, January 28 at Gallery Nine, 44 West 18^th Street, New York, NY.
Photos by Sam Stuart

Read more >>

Stephen Burrows: When Fashion Danced

When is the last time a major fashion designer made clothes specifically to dance?  The Stephen Burrows exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York is a retrospective of a designer inspired by nightlife.

Stephen Burrows was a pioneering African American fashion designer whose look was defined by slinky knitwear, metallics and movement.  The bright colors, lettuce edged fabrics and body conscious silhouettes were inspired by the popular music of the 1970's, perfect for dancing in clubs like Studio 54 and worn by celebrities of its day.  What struck me was how contemporary the outfits all looked, as if they were a department store display you would see today.

Stephen Burrows was also one of the American designers chosen to represent the country is the famous "Battle of Versailles" fashion exhibition in Paris in 1973.  French couturiers like Givenchy, Dior and Yves Saint-Laurent and American fashion designers Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein and Burrows staged an epic contest to prove which country deserved to take the style crown.  While the traditional French designers showed classic dressing with Josephine Baker performing, it was the Americans who blew away the elite crowd with Liza Minelli, modern fashion and a team of African-American models who until that moment, were not considered the mainstream face of luxury fashion.

I love the short film near the beginning of the exhibit showing scenes of 70's New York City with slices of flashy disco nightlife.  It was nostalgic for the gritty, edgy, dirty NYC and how fabulous it was for it.  Stephen Burrows' fashion illustrations were also displayed throughout the exhibit.  You can see how a certain rhythm moves through the figures, colors or not colors, all the fashion is dancing...

Let's raise a mirrored ball to a man who was well ahead of his time and rocking his style still today!

The exhibit runs until July 28, 2013 at the Museum of the City of New York.

Read more >>

Future of Fashion 2013 - Knitwear Design

Amazing things can be done in the twisting of yarn. The 2013 class of F.I.T. proved that in spades.  The knitwear designers were my favorite (and largest) section of the Fashion Institute of Technology's graduate fashion show this week.

The designs ranged from sculptural art pieces from designer Jong Suk Park and Marines Padilla to the brightly colored work of award winner Tae Kyung Kim.  There were slinky, sexy fitted dresses with light weight patterned stitches.  Innovative textures were created in the knitting techniques or achieved with dimensional yarns. Critics overseeing the knitwear students were Tom Scott and Lars Andersson. 

 Other designers included Sowon Yoon,Jiin Yoo,Jing Jing Xu,Marta Weber, Tamara Taylor , Jin Young Suh, Jennifer Seung Yeon Sim, Isadora Scimeca, Olga Santiago, Julie Urania Rovelo, Danielle Ridarick, Noa Rennert, Sanja Radulovic, Hannah Park,Yoshie Muranaka, Desiree Cadman Mendoza, Morgan Maxwell, Claire Lung , Katie Lewis, Wonhee Lee, Hee-eun Lee, Ida Lamberton, Kathy Hweryung Kwon, Sijeo Kim, Mashal Khan, Kinjal Katakia, Elizabeth Joyce, Samantha Ince, Jelena Ibrishimovikj, Soyeon Hwang, Katharine Gray, Victoria Clemente, Andy Chan, Aimee Ciancarelli, Aisling Camps, Blake Burnett, Yuliya Bondarenko, Heidi Bischoff, Chelsea Maxine Agawa and Nora Abdelwahed.

One thing we can be assured of, the new generation of fashion will keep you cozy and in style.

Read more >>