Fashion Design
FAS Senior Collection: Syracuse University
The process of the design and creation of this fashion collection is documented here as testimony to my design thinking process and evolving work process within.
This collection was chosen by a professional jury including faculty, from a class of 25 students to be presented in the New York City exhibition at the Syracuse University Lubin house for industry professionals to view.
Videography By Syracuse University, for the Senior Collection Presentation
Ideation Sketching
Collection Theme
This collection follows a narrative in which it explores the nature of isolation, and the process it may follow.
Its first phase is Environmental Isolation; large silhouettes offering protection from the rain, wind and sun.
The next is Social Isolation; The same larger silhouettes, following an evolution toward covered faces, mouths, and a start to the distortion and distention of the body.
Finally we arrive at Self Isolation; the garments warp around and dangle off the figure, an increasing protection from the environment and others is increased, and an opaque form made of plastic covers the figure from clarity. The eyes begin to be covered, and the silhouettes start to represent a lack of self and a distortion of being.
Presentation Document for Jury, including design inspiration, theme, and final sketches
Design Refinement
As the collection production has continued, there were important decisions to make based on materiality and communication of the specific stage of Isolation. The first defining choice, was to create all of the outer looks out of a heavy uniform material, I chose a white/cream canvas. This allows for the silhouette to speak for itself, and also encourages the change in material that comes from the soft inner layers, or with the movement to a lack of opacity within the self through 6mm PVC plastic sheeting, and chiffon for the later looks.
These material choices communicate the importance of shape and form, and tell a story as they evolve through Isolation, from Environmental, to Social, to Self.
To the right, are sketches of the closer to “final” iterations of the designs for looks one through 6. These were modified from the original sketches as the collection developed, and the material use became clearer. The final looks are showcased below photographed.
Evolution In Messaging
The evolution of the messaging within the collection evolved throughout the creation process. As I dived deeper within the messaging and thematic elements of isolation, I needed to concentrate down toward the core of the meaning I wanted to portray. The collection had to be condensed into 6 looks to be made for presentation.
To accomplish this filtering of the collection I focused on the elements of isolation and which of those feelings could be related back to the modern world. The silhouettes speak from look 1 through 6, a path of Environmental Isolation through the loss of self through internal conflict. The material choices of plastic and monochrome canvas allow for a focus on the silhouette, and what the material can do to create an opaque overlay to create an aberration of the figure in which the clothes hang.
During the pandemic we shared an isolation while transmitting our “digital self” through our actions is another theme important to these final looks, there is a growing form around the face as the collection proceeds, hiding the features we are evolutionary trained to recognize and provide social contact through. This altering of the very features we use to identify with eachother is intentional, and core to the motif and theme of the collection.
Collection Photography
As isolation progresses, it turns the human form into something more formidable, and unrecognizable. The privacy issues we face through facial identification and AI deepfakes that train off the images and media we post, isolate us more from the human condition.
Symbolically, as the collection moved forward, I wanted to emphasize the concept of self isolation through political means. The state of the union is important and ever-present, and requires addressing.
Within the 5th look, there is a construction hat with “KENT STATE” scrawled upon it, each respectively symbols of Pro and Anti War protests during the Vietnam conflict. This conflict could be traced back as the spark in the political, and thus social, divide we see in the political culture of the United States today.
The unification of these symbols is a potent reminder of the militarization and separation that extreme politics has brought forward. It highlights the separation still faced by everyday citizens emphasized through media and political fearmongering, that divides families and communities throughout. Isolating people from their communities and families, becoming lost in the self.
