Head of the Class: Get to Know This Year's Best Student Designers
Fashion shows: We've seen 'em all. From grand runways in Paris to small presentations in New York, we're always on the hunt for the latest and greatest the industry has to offer. But you know where the action really is? Student fashion shows, home to raw emerging talent.
Every spring we get to check out the senior collections of the world's best aspiring designers at the country's top fashion schools. These aren't your run-of-the-mill thesis defenses—they can seriously propel unknowns into the spotlight. Case in point: Ever heard of a little brand called Proenza Schouler? Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullough's senior collection was bought in full by Barneys, making PS an instantly covetable pair of initials among the style set.
Of course, it should come as no surprise that this year's bright young things cite the Proenza boys' path as career inspiration. Could the next Lazaro or Jack be in our midst? Time will tell, but we have a feeling we'll be hearing about these star students for years to come.
We spoke with the top graduating seniors from Parsons, FIT, RISD, SCAD, and Pratt, so click through and get acquainted with the soon-to-be in-demand designers of tomorrow.
1/7These are the names you'll be hearing (and wearing) in the not-so-distant future.
2/7Tae Kyung Kim
School: Fashion Institute of Technology
Age: 23
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
The knitwear shown at FIT's senior show this year was incredibly impressive, but one student's work stood above the rest. "Color itself was the inspiration for my final collection," explains Tae. "I'm usually inspired by something abstract like an emotion, and I try to find the right colors that represent that feeling. This time, I went backwards. I found the color first, and worked with it to see what kind of emotion it could create when applied to a garment."
The resulting jacquard designs are stunningly vibrant and shockingly sophisticated. And while Tae's fashion talent is not only apparent but also recognized (she picked up two awards for this collection alone), she hasn't ruled out fine art as an ultimate career destination. For now though, she's continuing to refine the work she's done at FIT.
"I believe a designer can be a storyteller," she says. "I want people to be able to understand my story easily through my garments." It's not just a clarity of vision that Tae strives for—she's also a pragmatist. "Meeting deadlines was actually the most important lesson I learned at FIT! Even though I wanted to do so many things at once, I had to keep in mind that there's always a limitation of time. I learned how to give up on things that aren't necessary." Wise and talented beyond her years? We sure think so.
Photos courtesy of FIT
3/7Morgan Selin
School: Rhode Island School of Design
Age: 23
Hometown: Shelburne, Vermont
For some designers, like Morgan, fashion is a lifelong pursuit. "I started sewing when I was a little kid! I taught myself," she says. But it wasn't until she made her own 8th grade graduation dress that she even thought about going to design school instead of a more traditional academic university.
The first fashion program she heard of was RISD's, and her time there was spent refining an earthy aesthetic inspired by her Vermont childhood. "I titled my final collection 'Nomad,' and my customer profile is someone who works for National Geographic as a photojournalist," she explains. "She needs to move between climates easily and have a wardrobe she can mix and match." Working in collaboration with textile student Charlotte David, she created digital prints from images of cracked mud, water, and tree bark.
A true labor of love (and the product of nonstop studio time), the drapey duds are as comfortable as they are chic. As for Morgan's advice for fashion students? Be a self-starter. "It's really up to the individual to push through and get the most out of design school. If you slack off, it's only detrimental to yourself because you won't get as much done on your collection. I'm ready to sleep now, but I've worked very hard the last four years and have enjoyed every minute of it."
Photos by Matt Francis
4/7Harim Jung
School: Parsons The New School for Design
Age: 23
Hometown: Seoul, South Korea
Androgyny is the name of the game for one of Parsons's two Womenswear Designers of the Year. While Harim's clothes are indeed for women, she made them in a menswear class, applying the principles of dude design to feminine frocks. Her tailored black-and-white designs are oversized in all the right places, toeing the line between perfectly polished and stylishly disheveled. And if you're catching a schoolgirl vibe, that's for good reason.
"I have a uniform back home that I kept for years. It was time to get rid of it because I was running out of closet space, but then I realized, this is going to be my thesis," she explains. "I was trying to create a sort of time machine with it. I deconstructed and reconstructed it, really experimenting, but still keeping my own memories of the uniform and of my high school years. I also needed to make it really wearable."
But fashion wasn't Harim's initial endgame. She started out studying film and graphic design in Korea, quickly recognizing her true passion was for fashion. "I really like the physical creativity of designing—the draping, the pattern-making, the sourcing. Since I speak fluent English, I was like, why not try school in the States? And I figured I might as well go to the best school there while I was at it." She certainly found her groove at Parsons, where she first learned to sew as a freshman. "I felt like I was super late, but if you have the will, there's always a way. You're never too late to do what you love!"
Photos courtesy of Parsons
5/7Kaye Applewaite
School: Parsons The New School for Design
Age: 24
Hometown: St. Thomas, Barbados
Parsons's other senior superstar also didn't know she would enter the world of design. Kaye was accepted to medical school in Barbados, but opted instead to attend a two-year associate's degree program for fashion. It soon became clear that she would make a career out of it, so she weighed her options for obtaining her bachelor's. "I thought a lot about it," she says. "British fashion is really different from American fashion. Personally, I like how rebellious American fashion is! It really speaks to what's going on." So off to New York she went.
Four years later, she calls her final collection a "search for identity." And a search it was: "Every week for the first semester of my senior year, I'd make so many things and then be like, 'No, this isn't it. I need to change this, I need to try this.' I made thousands of pieces and discarded and evolved them. By the end, I had two designs I really liked and built the collection around those."
Her self-discovery centered around her new life in the big city. "People are much more active in New York than they are in Barbados! I bought my first hoodie when I moved here." That purchase sparked in interest in activewear, a theme that's present throughout the delightfully cohesive collection, which is comprised of sporty pieces in tech-y fabrics that still manage to give off a formal vibe. What exactly did Kaye learn from her thousand or so drafts? "Well, the ability to edit down is something I really value now!" she says with a laugh. "Always question yourself and your decisions. Make sure you're doing everything for a reason."
Photos courtesy of Parsons
6/7Noah Jodoin
School: Savannah College of Art and Design
Age: 21
Hometown: Portland, Oregon
While SCAD's impressive fashion department was what ultimately sold Noah on the school, he was also ready for a change of pace. "Honestly, I wanted to get out of the bubble where I grew up and it was literally the farthest place away from there," he explains. So, what does a guy from the Pacific Northwest design at college in the South? Clothes that would be right at home in Alaska, of course.
"My collection was inspired by the Inuit culture and their traditional oversize silhouettes," he says. "In a lot of historical photos I saw these huge fur sweatshirt-type pieces, and I wanted to recreate that in a more wearable way. I also took silhouette references from igloos." Despite the dramatic stimulus, the effect is surprisingly subtle.
For Noah, this collection is a culmination of years of "making weird stuff for family and friends," a hobby that started with deconstructing secondhand garments and eventually led him to uncover his fashion industry ambitions. After four years in Georgia, however, he's planning a move to New York City. "I'd like to get a design job with a brand I really share an aesthetic with. I think that's what I'm most picky about." And he should be, right? Fur sweatshirts for all!
Photos courtesy of SCAD
7/7Madeline Gruen
School: Pratt Institute
Age: 22
Hometown: Bethesda, Maryland
"It was an homage to my grandmother," Madeline says of her beautifully baroque senior collection. "She only wore blue and white and was very elegant and accessorized to the nines. She was a sewer and painter and a real inspiration to me growing up." While Madeline started showing her wares at fashion shows back in high school, she wanted to wait until she had serious design experience before dedicating a collection to her family's stylish matriarch.
"I created a color palette by looking at pictures of my grandma, and I picked out the twill fabric from an apron she made me when I was little," she continues. "I started designing dresses, and then I thought maybe I should add some men's looks, too. It basically turned into my fairy tale prom collection!" The end result is a series of complementary pairs (dates, you might even say) outfitted in stunning printed and embellished formal looks.
Her standout creations won her a spot in Pratt's incubator program where she'll be able to develop her very own line. "I was told time and time again that my work was ordinary," she says of her undergrad experience. "I used that as an inspiration to push myself more." And trust us, her designs are anything but.
Photos courtesy of Pratt
