"On May 15th through 18th, all high school Fashion Design students will have their work featured in this year’s annual runway show." --Grace Triantafyllos
On May 15th through 18th, all high school Fashion Design students will have their work featured in this year’s annual runway show. All throughout the school year, they’ve been designing, patterning, and sewing pieces that pertain to a certain theme.
“The theme this year is ‘social fabric,’” explains Fashion Design teacher Linda Ricciardi. “It came out of the idea of this overall theme of the home project. The conversation went from home to the idea of family, and then we had a conversation about things that families leave behind or pass onto each other. And that can be things that are physical things, like heirlooms or things like that; It could be physical traits; It could be skills, knowledge, trauma, debt--all kinds of things that we leave behind. And so each student has taken that idea and created their own distinct theme around that, and that’s what their collection is about.”
For Fashion Design students, a large portion of the school year is devoted to working on fashion shows such as the runway show and the senior showcase. “Usually we’re working on a project. Probably three quarters of the year we’re working on fashion shows,” says senior Fashion Design student working on a Jackie Kennedy inspired collection, Michaela Maloney. “And then we have some other smaller projects, like we’re working with the exploratorium right now for an exhibit. It’s just really project based. So it’s really individual.”
“The theme this year is ‘social fabric,’” explains Fashion Design teacher Linda Ricciardi. “It came out of the idea of this overall theme of the home project. The conversation went from home to the idea of family, and then we had a conversation about things that families leave behind or pass onto each other. And that can be things that are physical things, like heirlooms or things like that; It could be physical traits; It could be skills, knowledge, trauma, debt--all kinds of things that we leave behind. And so each student has taken that idea and created their own distinct theme around that, and that’s what their collection is about.”
For Fashion Design students, a large portion of the school year is devoted to working on fashion shows such as the runway show and the senior showcase. “Usually we’re working on a project. Probably three quarters of the year we’re working on fashion shows,” says senior Fashion Design student working on a Jackie Kennedy inspired collection, Michaela Maloney. “And then we have some other smaller projects, like we’re working with the exploratorium right now for an exhibit. It’s just really project based. So it’s really individual.”
“The first two quarters of the school year are basically set aside to just designing and cultivating your ideas for the runway show or, in our case, the senior show, which we have at the beginning of the year, where as the third and fourth quarter are set mostly aside to actually sewing and getting all of our designs ready with mockups and whatnot,” says Kaitlyn Nicholas, a senior in the Fashion Design department whose collection is themed around fossil fuels.
All the work they’ve put in will soon pay off. The runway show is fast approaching, and now the Fashion Design department is busy planning the show and finishing up their collections. “Everything. I do everything!” Ricciardi said jokingly. She has been busy shopping for supplies, printing posters, collaborating with students on set design and lighting, finding models, and teaching students to sew and pattern. Pattern making is a process used to plan out garments by drawing individual pieces out in the correct measurements as a guide for cutting fabric.
Meanwhile, students have been working on finishing their collections. “Well, at this point we have three weeks left, and at this point I’m done with four out of the five pieces for my show,” says Nicholas. “I’m a little bit ahead. I’m finishing my last piece right now, which is just doing fittings and doing detail work and all that kind of deal. But otherwise I’m actually going to probably finish early.”
“[I’m] making my pieces. We pattern first which, it takes me a long time to do. And then right now we’re making everything--with fabric and stuff,” says Maloney.
“All their designs have been done for a few months,” says Ricciardi. “They’ve made mockups-- a mockup is when you test out your pattern in sort of a cheap fabric just to see if it fits. Those are mostly done. Now they’re starting to build in their final fabrics, they’re fitting their models, and they’re doing final touches. They are picking a song for their models to walk to, and they also are being videoed and recorded--there’s a short video that happens before each collection describing the collection.”
Of course, many challenges arise when designing sewing pieces. “I struggle with patterning, which is a lot of math and exact measuring and stuff. But other people are really good at--I find that most people are either really good at patterning or really good at sewing,” Maloney says when asked what she thought was the most difficult part of the sewing and designing process.
“After I have my designs, it’s really [difficult] keeping what I’ve decided on,” says Nicholas. “I tend to change my mind a lot. For a while, I tried to stick to my designs really heavily, and at this point I kind of just--as I go, will change stuff. [I] just give myself some room to get around stuff. So I think it would probably be just acknowledging that your first idea is not going to be your best and getting past that and just being willing to change on the spot. And being like, ‘Well, I can’t do this. I’ll switch this instead. It doesn’t fit, I’ll put a slit in it,’ or something like that.”
“The most difficult part is just time,” states Ricciardi. “We never seem to have enough time, even though we start at the beginning of the year. There’s just so much to do. It’s just having enough time to do it all and being--similar to Ms. Karnes--being a one-person department, essentially. It’s just a lot of work to juggle everything.”
The designers get inspiration for their pieces from a variety of different places, resulting in a plethora of unique garments that will go down the runway.
“I usually get a lot of inspiration from the natural world,” says Nicholas. “So, for this fashion show I’m doing mine about fossil fuels. And I’ve usually gotten most of my inspiration from nature and just kind of the Earth all together.”
“[I get inspiration from] mostly magazines or other students. [Someone whose style I admire is] Rihanna, but I guess everyone would say that,” says Amir Weekly, a junior in the Fashion Design department.
“Each runway show we’re kind of leaning in a certain direction to where we get inspiration from. This year, social fabric is the theme, and it’s kind of dealing with legacy and things that get passed down,” says Maloney. “I chose Jackie Kennedy as my inspiration because I think her style influence has been passed down and really ingrained in America’s social fabric. I get a lot of inspiration from fine artists. It just depends on what I’m into at the moment.”
Even if you’ve been to one of the Fashion Design department’s shows before, you can still get lots of enjoyment out of it again this year.
“[The shows] are different every year. It really depends. I have a very eclectic group of students year to year,” says Ricciardi. “It’s the whole high school, so it’s all levels. I have some students that have been sewing for years, who’ve had, like, professional training. I have some students who’ve never sewn before, ever, and they’re also in the show. So every year it’s really different. This year’s seniors are a special group. They’re very special.”
All the work they’ve put in will soon pay off. The runway show is fast approaching, and now the Fashion Design department is busy planning the show and finishing up their collections. “Everything. I do everything!” Ricciardi said jokingly. She has been busy shopping for supplies, printing posters, collaborating with students on set design and lighting, finding models, and teaching students to sew and pattern. Pattern making is a process used to plan out garments by drawing individual pieces out in the correct measurements as a guide for cutting fabric.
Meanwhile, students have been working on finishing their collections. “Well, at this point we have three weeks left, and at this point I’m done with four out of the five pieces for my show,” says Nicholas. “I’m a little bit ahead. I’m finishing my last piece right now, which is just doing fittings and doing detail work and all that kind of deal. But otherwise I’m actually going to probably finish early.”
“[I’m] making my pieces. We pattern first which, it takes me a long time to do. And then right now we’re making everything--with fabric and stuff,” says Maloney.
“All their designs have been done for a few months,” says Ricciardi. “They’ve made mockups-- a mockup is when you test out your pattern in sort of a cheap fabric just to see if it fits. Those are mostly done. Now they’re starting to build in their final fabrics, they’re fitting their models, and they’re doing final touches. They are picking a song for their models to walk to, and they also are being videoed and recorded--there’s a short video that happens before each collection describing the collection.”
Of course, many challenges arise when designing sewing pieces. “I struggle with patterning, which is a lot of math and exact measuring and stuff. But other people are really good at--I find that most people are either really good at patterning or really good at sewing,” Maloney says when asked what she thought was the most difficult part of the sewing and designing process.
“After I have my designs, it’s really [difficult] keeping what I’ve decided on,” says Nicholas. “I tend to change my mind a lot. For a while, I tried to stick to my designs really heavily, and at this point I kind of just--as I go, will change stuff. [I] just give myself some room to get around stuff. So I think it would probably be just acknowledging that your first idea is not going to be your best and getting past that and just being willing to change on the spot. And being like, ‘Well, I can’t do this. I’ll switch this instead. It doesn’t fit, I’ll put a slit in it,’ or something like that.”
“The most difficult part is just time,” states Ricciardi. “We never seem to have enough time, even though we start at the beginning of the year. There’s just so much to do. It’s just having enough time to do it all and being--similar to Ms. Karnes--being a one-person department, essentially. It’s just a lot of work to juggle everything.”
The designers get inspiration for their pieces from a variety of different places, resulting in a plethora of unique garments that will go down the runway.
“I usually get a lot of inspiration from the natural world,” says Nicholas. “So, for this fashion show I’m doing mine about fossil fuels. And I’ve usually gotten most of my inspiration from nature and just kind of the Earth all together.”
“[I get inspiration from] mostly magazines or other students. [Someone whose style I admire is] Rihanna, but I guess everyone would say that,” says Amir Weekly, a junior in the Fashion Design department.
“Each runway show we’re kind of leaning in a certain direction to where we get inspiration from. This year, social fabric is the theme, and it’s kind of dealing with legacy and things that get passed down,” says Maloney. “I chose Jackie Kennedy as my inspiration because I think her style influence has been passed down and really ingrained in America’s social fabric. I get a lot of inspiration from fine artists. It just depends on what I’m into at the moment.”
Even if you’ve been to one of the Fashion Design department’s shows before, you can still get lots of enjoyment out of it again this year.
“[The shows] are different every year. It really depends. I have a very eclectic group of students year to year,” says Ricciardi. “It’s the whole high school, so it’s all levels. I have some students that have been sewing for years, who’ve had, like, professional training. I have some students who’ve never sewn before, ever, and they’re also in the show. So every year it’s really different. This year’s seniors are a special group. They’re very special.”
