Pratt Fashion Costumes for Screaming Mimi's

Do you need some last minute inspiration for Halloween ? Legendary vintage store Screaming Mimi's hosted a costume design competition for Pratt fashion design students this holiday.

The famous East village shop has been the go-to source for stylists, drag queens, collectors and hard core fashionistas since 1978. It counted Cyndi Lauper as an ex - employee and clearly contributed to her early look.

The fashion design contest was to design a costume for the theme of "Under the Sea". The eight finalists included Elizabeth Gee, Deanna Parlagreco, Jean-Baptiste Riviere, Sophia Roces, Victoria Tom, Cindy Tran, Yadira Nelson, and Anthony Williams. You can see the retro influences in their costumes that are reminiscent of vintage Coney Island Mermaid parades or the prom from Back to the Future.

The judges of the costume competition included editors Lynn Yaeger from Vogue, Mickey Boardman from Paper Magazine and Screaming Mimi's owner Laura Wills. 

If you want an on-trend, one of a kind look as your Halloween costume, head on down to Screaming Mimi's for a Pratt Institute creation. Or, if you feel like your own stylist,  put together something incredible with treasures you find there yourself.

photos from Screaming Mimi's

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Byron Lars Fall 2014 & Giveaway

It is the most stylish summer ever.  Designer Byron Lars presented his fall 2014 collection to editors and fans in an intimate event at the Pratt Institute gallery Tuesday night.  Models Ashley, Minyoung and Sheila J. modeled some of Byron’s favorite looks from the season. 

Most of the stylists and editors who attended were already big supporters of the designer judging by the number of women who wore Byron Lars to the event.  Author Lauren M. Bias wore a metallic pieced sheath and director Sidra Smith wore a twist front laser cut coral dress to the party.

Julep and Bluffa Jo cosmetics provided some rich hues in nail lacquer to complement the colors of the collection, while Mizani hair products helped to glam up the models’  do’s. 

The Byron Lars team truly pampered party guests as they nibbled on Pop Chips and gourmet bits from my new Garment Center favorite, Café Kabila.  The Moroccan influenced fare had mini bastilla pastries, sliders and brie tartlets with cool mint tea.  Make My Cake bakery from Uptown Manhattan provided rich cupcakes and brownies in the gift bag.  There are certainly a lot of cupcake makers in this town, but I watched a model (whom I have never seen eat, let alone touch sugar) inhale two cakes in about 30 seconds.  If that’s not a testament to their tastiness, I don’t know what is.

Are you looking for post-party indulgence? The Upper East Side spa Sphatika offered guests pampering services with a special discount.  If you love Byron’s designer glasses, you can shop for your own with a 3D virtual try-on experience from DITTO who gave out give certificates. 

A personalized gift from Byron Lars was a soft scarf made especially for the fashion party that was printed with his sketches of the collection. 

Now, I wouldn't tease all of you with these goodies if you didn't have a chance to get them for yourself!  Byron Lars is offering up the VIP gift bag from the event in his “Designer for a Day” Challenge.  Style the paper dolls with your version of his looks and submit by noon on June 26, 2014.  Good Luck!

 Photos by Mariana Leung

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Pratt Fashion 2014 - Part Three

The second half of the Pratt Fashion Show 2014 was a study in handcrafted techniques and art.
Molly Clare Coyle showed an ethnic-inspired, hand painted group with a beautiful color palette.  Taylor Janotte appeared to have a similar ethnic muse, but with fantastic hand knits and prints.

Neil Grotzinger created a collection that looked like a mix of collage and found object embroidery.  There was a kimono-type jacket that was printed with patterns that looked like poster graffiti.  There was a bustier that looked pieced together like papier mâché.  I loved the dresses that were embellished in irregular motifs with beads in a technique that looked like three dimensional graffiti.

If you are looking for fashion as sculpture, Juliana Horner's collection is for you.  Her designs had a play of sheer and solid, with big shapes that ignored or distorted the natural body form.  This collection was not meant for every day wear but was impressive as statement pieces on the runway.

Congratulations graduates!
Photos by Mariana Leung

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Pratt Fashion 2014 - Part Two

The first half of the Pratt Institute's fashion show was spare, minimalist, was it "NORMCORE"? I have heard that buzzword a lot lately, described as non-style style, designed to blend in.  The collections of Hana Pak, Kay Frank, Lauren Sander, Rachel Borghard, Jesus Chavez, and Semaj Bryant presented collections in the most neutral of palettes.  Black, white, nude, clear, sheer and grey.

The design challenge here must have been to create a collection using non-colors, the most basic of items or silhouettes, yet still make each piece stand out.  That would be tough for any fashion designer, but this group succeeded beautifully.  The solution by the Pratt fashion graduates was to create unique cuts and edges.  Using monotone colors can be made interesting by diversifying the texture and weight of the fabrics.  Mixing sheer with thick opaque, shine versus matte can create a canvas for artistic pieces on the body.  In this case the single color emphasizes all the design decisions of each individual piece.

Look out for these collections a few years from now, the future of fashion has been seen.  Congratulations to all of the Pratt Fashion designers, class of 2014!

photos by Mariana Leung

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Pratt Fashion Show 2014 - Award Winners

Congratulations to all of the graduates of Pratt Institute Fashion, Class of 2014! Last night was a celebrated evening for all of the talented designers, seasoned and new.

First, Stephen Burrows received the Lifetime Achievement award from longtime friend, legendary model Pat Cleveland.  My favorite, Byron Lars received the Fashion Visionary Award from modern style icon, actress Angela Bassett.  Also notable are the fact that both winners are the first African American designers to be honored for the Pratt Fashion awards.

Fellow fashion VIPs were on hand to support the new class and award winners like Catherine Malandrino, Fern Mallis and Stan Herman.

I am going to post more graduate collections from Pratt in the next few days, but first, here is Julia Wollner.  She was the winner of the Liz Claiborne Award for her achievement in concept to product.  Her collection had a clean, high-tech aesthetic.  The group looked to contain white fabric basics paired with digitally printed art on vinyl.

Our own Mdivani Monroe interviewed Fashion Visionary Byron Lars and style icon Angela Bassett:

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Byron Lars Fall 2014 Lookbook & Interview

Do you need a preview of what I will be wearing this fall?  I am fitting and shopping the Byron Lars Fall 2014 lookbook this week.  The fabulous Byron Lars, is being honored at the Pratt Institute Fashion show + Cocktail Benefit tonight with the Fashion Visionary Award.  He is a designer who is beloved by many celebrities for his fantastic fit and impeccable construction.  His success was not easy. It came with hard work and tough lessons along the way.  The new class of fashion designers can learn a lot from his wisdom:

Ms. FABulous: What are your favorite memories of studying fashion in school?

Byron Lars: I can't believe I'm saying this because, I'm pretty sure I didn't see it this way back then but looking back, my favorite part of studying fashion in school was pulling all-nighters by stowing away in the lab, hiding from campus security by turning out the lights as they made the rounds. 

This was the only truly focused stretch of time that I remember having to really get your hands in the work and keep them there...well till sunrise anyway.

Ms. FAB: What is one piece of advice that you could have used at the start of your career that most people don’t tell you?  

B.L.: What ever that might have been would more than likely have sent me running for the hills because, many of the realities of this and any industry I would imagine need to be revealed at a point when it's too late to turn back.  I guess Winston Churchill said it best, "If you're going through hell, keep going.".

Ms. FAB:  What advantages do this year’s fashion school graduates have that they should take advantage of?  

B.L.:  Every fashion student should take full advantage of as many internships as they possibly can (even if that only ends up being only one) to make their first professional contacts. 

Of course this means that you need to give your absolute all every day while interning.  This might even mean being relegated to running for coffee and little else BUT, if that ends up being the case, make absolutely sure that each and every cup of coffee you deliver is hot...unless of course it's ice coffee. 

Doing a great job without complaining will get you noticed in the best way by somebody which may just lead to your first paying job in the industry.    

Ms. FAB: In a tough industry or job market, what would you tell a frustrated fashion designer as part of your pep talk?

B.L.: We'd never have any sweet delicious lemonade without the sour lemons required to make it, right? 

So often, it's the struggles incurred during the toughest of times that summon and rouse the muse in ways that no other state of being  ever could.  The business of fashion is by nature mercurial but never more so than it is now, so these times are about adjusting ones thinking to become ever more responsive to the many rapid fire changes occurring daily.  

Ms. FAB: Thank you Byron Lars!
photos by Noah Chen, Mariana Leung

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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

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Pratt Fashion Design Graduate Show 2012

Last Thursday night, the fashion industry's top mentor gathered in the front row to cheer on the design talent of the Pratt Institute's graduating class. Champion to all of NY fashion, Fern Mallis was honored at the event, with Calvin Klein handing her the award. Stan Herman, Hamish Bowles also chatted up their favorites to the industry and family crowd.

The evening started with a video of testimonials of designers who had been inspired by Ms. Mallis. She was one of the founders of 7th on 6th (now Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week), founding board member of DIFFA and a warrior to bring International awareness to American designers.

The design student's collections on the runway showcased a diverse vision of style. A few favorites:

Dana Hurwitz brought the use of mixed media to elegant heights with fur and vinyl. Kelsy Carleen Parkhouse brought a quaint homestyle look to her collection with quilted details in updated fashion silhouettes. Beatrice Weiland showed she knew how to brand a collection. She used urban silhouettes and bold, graphic prints with her name incorporated into them for her group. Kate Wilkoff's sophisticated collection was a study in dressmaker details. She used delicate pleating, trapunto stitching and light as air carwash fringe for an elegant evening look. Meredith Lyon took a strong social message and managed to communicate it in a witty, but chic collection. Her PSA against smoking used strategic graphics and a great cigarette print. She gave new meaning to cigarette pants, seamed like actual cigarettes, while maintaining their signature silhouette.

See the rest below:

Photos by Mariana Leung

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Pratt + Paper & Ralph Pucci Exhibit

Remember the paper dresses of the 1960's? Originally a marketing tool by Scott Paper company in 1966, it sparked a surprising trend that inspired many other manufacturers, including Andy Warhol.

The Pratt Institute opened a new exhibit in collaboration with Ralph Pucci this week.  50 design students were tasked to create a textural study to dress female mannequins.  24 pieces were chosen for the exhibit.  Judges included fashion designer Anna Sui, Bergdorf Goodman's Linda Fargo, interior designer Vicente Wolf and others.

 The exhibition will be open to the public on December 8, 9, and 10 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The exhibit takes place at Pucci's Gallery 9 showroom at 44 West 18th Street, on the 9th floor.
Photos by Geoffry Gertz

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Pratt Fashion Show 2010 honors Catherine Malandrino

The Altman Building played host to the Pratt fashion show students of 2010 Thursday night. A mixture of sportswear, menswear, costume and evening/bridal looks walked down the runway. Notable guests included Vogue's Hamish Bowles and Kim Hastreiter, of PAPER magazine.

The charmingly down to Earth Catherine Malandrino accepted the 2010 Pratt Institute Fashion Icon award. On fashion, Catherine said “For me it was always to dress women with elegance as a wife, mother and lover. It’s not just about clothes. All the time, it’s making a beautiful world.”

Our favorite looks were from Mayu Samoto who showed charming, flirty pastel shorts, fitted tops with piping details. Jennifer Damm’s collection of origami like silks, precisely cut triangles definitely showed her training as curatorial intern at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

K.Paige Regan may have started a new Williamsburg hipster look of super-sized black-framed glasses and sharkskin pants for men.

The most entertaining was the costume category. Emma Madnick showed off a riotous mix of carnival inspired looks. Rayneese Primrose stirred up the audience as a zombie Michael Jackson moonwalked down the runway.


Devin Cole showed feminine pastel printed chiffons with pleats, ruching and weaving over long and short lengths.

The most promising designer was Eveningwear award winner Timothy Kuzmeski. There was a moment of laughter when the model walked to the backstage but her sculpted dress still trailed in after her exit.

Timothy took his bow onstage with a tee that read “Thank you, Mom + Dad” . Talent and humor to remind us again why we love fashion in this city.

Story and photos by Ritika W and Mariana L

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