One of the few fashion
schools to annually earn a runway spot in New York Fashion Week, and
located on the opposite coast from the US industry hub, is the Academy of
Art University, San Francisco. Nevertheless, it attracts an audience of
fashion’s elite, lauded journalists from the old guard and colorful
influencers from the new, while its classrooms welcome established and
emerging designers, all eager to experience the students’ creativity under
the tutelage of director, Simon Ungless.
The textile innovation and experimental tailoring on display must
emanate from the central presence of Ungless who worked with and created
prints for Alexander McQueen early in his career, but the diverse
aesthetics and techniques evident within each of the 9 students’ work
demonstrates a healthy variety of specializations and influences. And most
importantly when viewing student collections, the execution was superb.
The show announced itself with dynamic menswear by Qing Guo whose vegan
leather pleated jumpsuits and bombers with billowing pants in head-to-toe
teal or magenta or yellow, worn with tone-on-tone laced boots exuded
commitment to the celebratory power of color. Traditional Chinese lantern
motifs were incorporated within the construction of sleeves and pant legs
to honor festivals the designer attended with her family while growing
up.
Mariana Gorey meshed chaos and structure as memories of her strict
schooling in France, her struggle with dyslexia and the art of Cy Twombly
came together in a poetic collection of monastic tailoring with rigorous
draping and rich gathering confined by elongated cuffs, all in regal
hues.
Academy of Art brings innovation and execution to New York Fashion
Week
Chelsea Grays was struck by the homeless population in San Francisco’s
Tenderloin district and in particular how necessity becomes the mother of
invention when your immediate survival depends on layering and
appropriating what’s readily available. She folded in aspects from
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art and street life to create a unisex collection of
patchwork houndstooths, tweeds, and screen printing relying where possible
on upcycled fabrics.
It’s all in the gesture, believes Abby Yang, who is attuned to how we
show emotion through hand movements which she then interpreted in
voluminous sleeves of bunched, gathered and cushiony micro-florals and
bleached denim.
The saddle as a symbol of the synergy between horse and rider was the
starting point for Ying Jin’s womenswear in anthracite-coated microfiber
and waxed nylon accentuated with equestrian-inspired hardware. Saddle
straps informed the pattern making behind capes, sleeve cuffs, and collared
shirts for a utilitarian sophistication.
Fashion editor Jackie Mallon is also an educator and author of Silk for
the Feed Dogs, a novel set in the international fashion industry.
Photos Getty for Academy of Art University
