RISD’s Collection 2011 Preview
Saturday, May 14, 2011
'Tis the season to be on the cutting edge of fashion and scout out the best up-and-coming talent in apparel design.
RISD will host Collection 2011 featuring more than 50 talented young designers, on Saturday, May 21st. Attendees will have a first-hand look at many of the portfolio pieces that will earn graduates positions at top fashion houses around the world.
Each of the designs in the show will be reviewed by a panel of professional designers. This year the jury includes Tommy Hilfiger; Nicole Miller [RISD ‘73]; Robert Geller [RISD ‘01]; Karen Young [RISD ‘88]; Marcia Patmos [RISD ‘91] and Tina Lutz.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe up-and-comers
Selected RISD sophomores will display pieces from the “Re-Innovatives” challenges. Given the assignment of constructing wearable garments out of recycled materials other than fabric, the students have designed clothes made out of packing peanuts, piano and violin strings and sheet music, and a broken taxidermy duck. Juniors also have a strong presence in the show, showcasing their knitwear and jackets. But the show is ultimately about the seniors.
Sashaying down the runway, local models will show off the RISD seniors’ eveningwear collections. The students were asked to design a collection based on the Cocktail Culture exhibit at the RISD Museum, but they have taken their designs way past little black dresses and strings of pearls. These designers represent the future tastemakers and trendsetters of the fashion industry, and they are taking their work to a whole new level.
Linzi Kofsky
Kofsky captures the structure, style, and class of the garments of the glamorous cocktail era, while putting on a modern twist on them. In one of her looks, she took into account the motions of the model walking down the runway and added billowing, yellow ribbon to a high-waisted pair of pants. She hoped to bring out the fluidity and beauty of
the silk charmeuse and juxtaposed them with a classy tailored blouse. Kofsky puts special emphasis on creating items that she feels “are aesthetically pleasing and captivating,” which is probably how she designed such elegant pieces.
Avery Reed
Beyond the Cocktail Culture exhibit, Reed found inspiration in La Esmerelda – an operatic adaptation of The Hunch Back of Notre Dame – and the opera’s opening scene called “the festival of fools.” The festival represents the themes of self-mockery, masquerade, and forbidden fruit as the Catholic Church banned the party in the 1600s. Reed took these themes along with elements of the architecture of the cathedral itself to create an old-world collection of particularly textured costumes (left). “My intention was to unite the chimerical and frightening elements of the gargoyles with the light-hearted frivolity of the revelers in the streets below,” said Reed.
Maya Varadarj
Varadarj’s collection takes a sexy detour away from the classy, proper associations with cocktail culture. She wanted to explore the “culture of horse racing – the mix of adrenaline and alcohol, the vibe and atmosphere, and of course, the fashion.” Varadarj utilizes a variety of black textured fabrics, drawing inspiration from the 1942 film Cat People. In
Varadarj’s revealing dress, any woman would be able to tap into her inner feline seductress.
Pamela Ho
Dovetail, as Ho calls her collection, highlights the carefree, earthy elements of cocktail culture. She sees that today people interpret cocktail culture as a desire to relax and enjoy the company of others. Thus, Ho’s dress is a loose-fitted cotton frock with wooden beads strung on strips of brown suede cascading down the center (right). Inspired by images of wood, Ho’s collection is perfect for a beach vacation or an afternoon luncheon.
Rachel Pullman
In her decadently chic collection (featured top right), Pullman pulls inspiration from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and the Parisian nightlife. “I am intrigued by the way color can create form and shape in fashion and have striven to achieve this through my work,” said Pullman. The color and texture of the fabrics make her collection particularly dynamic. Being draped in any of the pieces from this collection would be a near-royal experience.
RISD’s Annual Runway Show will be held Saturday, May 21 at 7:00pm in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium. For more information or to purchase tickets call 401 454-6741 or visit http://www.risd.edu/
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