The searing yellow and bright blue of the fabric jolted viewers awake as the lights went up and New York City Fashion Week began for 22 hopeful Rhode Island School of Design students. The students were competing for Elle Magazine's Fashion Next Award at Lincoln Center Sept. 9.
This competition organized by Elle aimed to feature "the works of fashion's next generation of stars," according to the publication's website. And what better place to start the search for such talent than on College Hill?
A great honor
Elle wanted to give this opportunity to up-and-coming designers as part of its 25th anniversary celebration, said Donna Gustavsen, former head of RISD's department of apparel design. The anniversary issue, which will hit stores next month, will feature the students and their designs, she said.
"It was just RISD they partnered with, which was a great honor," Gustavsen said.
But selecting the 22 designers was no quick and easy feat. During the application process, which spanned nearly a year, designers first answered a written application and submitted visuals of their work, Gustavsen said. Then, fashion news editors from Elle visited RISD to interview the designers and examine their proposed pieces.
The competition was not restricted to apparel designers. Students from both the textile and jewelry departments were encouraged to enter as well to demonstrate "a more accurate array of disciplines," she said.
"They got very intimate knowledge of the designers' work," she said. "They were totally engaged with the students throughout the process."
The student designers said they felt at ease with Elle's interviewing process. When the magazine's fashion news editors visited RISD to interview designers, "it was great to talk to them individually to get their feedback," wrote finalist and jewelry designer Tracey Wilder in an e-mail to The Herald. "They actually spent a lot of time talking to everyone and made the interview a lot less stressful by being so personable."
In the end, the finalists included four jewelry designers and three textile designers. The remaining 15 finalists came from the apparel department, Gustavsen said.
"To have their work shown at this level is a great honor," Gustavsen said. She added that the exposure from the competition alone will be a great boon to the designers' careers.
Gustavsen said she could not be more proud of her designers.
"It was a team effort of the faculty to help the students in the past year," she said.
Sewing together the seams
The fashion show took place amid much anticipation from members of the RISD community, the featured designers and professionals in the style world. The designers were competing for several monetary awards given out by Elle, Maybelline and Kate Spade. Judges included designers Nicole Miller and Tommy Hilfiger and other big names in the industry.
A people's choice award is also being conducted through Elle's website, where individuals can vote for their favorite designer.
Winners from the event included apparel designer Jessica Castellano, who won $25,000 from Maybelline, David Yoo, who also won $25,000 compliments of Elle and Caroline Hust who won $10,000 and an internship with Kate Spade. The winner of the $10,000 People's Choice Award will be announced next month.
Gustavsen said she was impressed by the "continuity of high quality" put forth by the designers, as well as their creativity and ingenuity. She said she was particularly pleased by the professionalism of the designers throughout the competition.
"The grace with which they've dealt with the competition is great," Gustavsen said. "They've been very supportive of each other."
"Everyone was really willing to help," said Castellano. "We all got better together."
Slime and chiffon
At the event, apparel designer Jenny Lai's work was the first to take to the catwalk. With a bright pop of color, her designs energized the audience right from the beginning of the show, she said. Featuring bold yellows, blues, purples and reds, her pieces played with new ways of presenting traditional designs.
"It was really cool just to see all they did for us and the work they put into showcasing our work," Lai said. Elle organized the staging, the hiring of models and the styling of the clothing, she said. In fact, the show was the first time many of the designers got to see their completed looks after Elle had styled the models, Lai said.
Lai, who graduated in May, will be leaving for Amsterdam soon to complete an internship with Viktor and Rolf and several other fashion houses throughout Europe, she said.
Wilder's jewelry pieces were a stark contrast to Lai's work. The sterling silver jewelry she made was delicate and flowed naturally over the model.
"The piece chosen for Elle was my degree project," she wrote. Wilder wrote that her design was inspired by the unusual combination of slime mold and her unique look on things. "I feel that the way slime mold grows is a good representation of this weaving motion that represents the way I think," she wrote.
Wilder is currently working in Virginia Beach as a metal smith while she begins to sell her jewelry online, she wrote.
Heeyoen Uee, a textile designer with a distinct point of view, used a technique called digital printing when designing the pieces featured by Elle, she said. "It's like paper printing, but on fabric," Uee said.
After scanning one of her paintings or drawings into a computer, Uee selected her fabric, which consisted mostly of cottons and silks for the show. She would then print her design onto the fabric. "When I first used the technique, I was amazed," she said.
"I love to do fine arts and fashion design," Uee said, adding that she generally does not like making three-dimensional works of art.
Uee discovered textile design in her sophomore year and said she thought it was the perfect combination of her two passions.
Castellano, an apparel designer, was another designer combining two of her greatest loves in her works. Her clothes are both hard and soft, edgy and romantic. Using a variety of textiles, including silk chiffon and leather, Castellano said she wanted to convey a sense of conflict in her pieces stemming from her dual passions of fashion and music.
Castellano, who said she considered a career as a concert pianist, said her collection represents her struggle to choose between music and fashion.
"Of course I would love to style my own line, but I'm going to save it for now," she said. "I'm working for Victoria's Secret now. I'm hoping to learn a lot from them and then when I'm confident enough, pull out the money and start a line."
