Parsons Fashion Show 2016: The Textile Artists

Today's Parsons School of Fashion Design show spotlight is on the masters of textile design. Ezra Xia was born and raised in Shenzhen, China, an area that excels in this area of production. She followed in her mother's footsteps of fashion design. Her collection for her thesis involved simple silhouettes, but highly graphic printed fabrics. The fabrics also had a trompe 'loeil effect. Individual motifs within her prints popped out in a 3D quilted effect. Unfortunately, it was a little tough to show that with the runway lighting.

Zuoyu Shi drew from a scientific muse for her graduate thesis. The beautiful prints are actually a result of studying coding, 3D modelling and surface design. Her approach to design is more calculated with the approach in fit and practicality. Her fabric prints have a mathematical look to them. Her collection also explored constructing his garments in a circular, modular system to lengthen their lifespan. As calculated as the backend design was, it takes nothing away at the aesthetic appeal of the final runway look.

all photos by Mariana Leung

It 's hard to ignore the overall influence of the tech world on fashion design. Ace Seongmin Kim took that influence literally in his collection. He likes to use his sense of humor and storytelling in his overall design aesthetic. His menswear incorporated various symbols of tech companies and recognizable Microsoft imagery as a motif in his textile designs. There were printed and beaded suits that incorporated punctation. There was a witty jacket that looked like it was created with overlapping leaves of post-it notes (reminiscent of the post-it war of Downtown NYC) with sporadic prints that look like Windows error messages.

Making your textile prints a signature part of your collection is very smart legally. As I am currently learning in my Fashion Law Institute class, up-and-coming fashion designers have very few protections for their work except to copyright two-dimensional art.

I'm not sure if the graduating fashion design class of Parsons The New School of Design had future legal proceedings in mind when they created their collections. Considering how savvy they all seem to be, I wouldn't be surprised that they have made it and many other decisions as part of their strategy.

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Parsons Fashion Show 2016: The Dreamers

Congratulations to the fashion design graduates of Parsons School of Design. I'll be bringing you my favorite looks from the Parsons Fashion Show 2016. I love seeing how fashion and new designers evolve every year at my alma mater. Today I am showcasing the sculpted wearable art of the fashion dreamers (and my three favorites).

 Jackson Wiederhoeft opened his show with a fantasy video showcasing his "Dollies". The looks were a mix of fairy-tale, Baroque and club kid glam. He loves to explore and blur gender lines, as long as his muse has the right attitude. While his personal collection is closer to costume design, he already has a job lined up developing collections with Thom Browne.

Annie Li designs through emotions and the transformative power of clothing in the realm of art. Her collection played with style lines, silhouette, unusual ways to cover the body and odd proportions. The quirky collection mixes the whimsy of childhood with adult sophistication in the clothing execution. She had some of the prettiest embellishments with embroidery in her applique flowers. She had already won multiple design awards before her graduation and launched her eyewear collection. 

When I first saw the all-ivory knit collection of JZ (aka Sijun Guo), I was impressed at the beautiful silhouettes and mastery of textile. Then, when I saw the back of these dresses I almost fell off my chair. These were walking sculptures of animal heads roaring right off the body. As fantastic as each look was, I can still see many people wearing them. The single neutral color was an apt choice as it made you appreciate the fully dimensional quality of her work. The collection of soft chains and animals had a narrative that expressed her emotion and fine art background in an antidote to the typical "fashion portfolio".

A major difference between when I graduated from Parsons Fashion and now is how savvy designers are in creating their brand. Many of the designers had multi-media presentations and a following on social media already. Many have already been slick about getting press for themselves for their work. This is all before they even graduate. In my time, there was a strong emphasis on designing for "7th avenue". These designers here are following their art and emotion to create their collection.

Stayed tuned for more designers from the Parsons Fashion Show 2016!

All photos by Mariana Leung

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