Photography by Whitney Curtis
The fashion design program senior class from left: Sasha Bash, Emma Rubinson, Zachary T. Adams, Maggie Miller, Mirai Patel, Lauren McGinnis, and Genna Torgan
To begin the process for Washington University in St. Louis’ annual Sam Fox School Fashion Design Show, seven senior class designers each dreamt up 12 concepts, that was later narrowed down to six looks each, and then perfected into a final product after mentorship from acclaimed French designer Xavier Brisoux via Zoom.
The show will be held virtually at 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 15, and is available to watch online through IGTV, YouTube, or a Zoom watch party. During the fall semester, student designers Zachary T. Adams, Sasha Bash, Lauren McGinnis, Maggie Miller, Mirai Patel, Emma Rubinson, and Genna Torgan conceptualized 12 looks, narrowing it down to six final looks they created for the final presentation. Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, the university’s associate professor and fashion design area coordinator, paired each designer with a student from her spring “Fashion Promotion and Exhibition” seminar to produce the editorial photoshoot and direct a final video. The promotion students also worked with local publisher and fashion director Paulette Whitfield Black to develop a visual identity around the fashion show, coordinate the BFA in Fashion Capstone Exhibition at the Des Lee Gallery, and develop an accompanying website and online catalog.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts students’ “resilience and not letting the pandemic get them down was just brilliant,” Ruppert-Stroescu says of the exhibition. “They didn’t want to focus on the pandemic at all but at the same time they really beautifully reflected things that are relevant in today’s world by pulling on what was going on around them and then translating into a space between art and fashion.”
Swipe to see each designer's illustrations, then the final product.
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Designer Zachary T. Adams describes the collection as “emphasizing a visual reclamation of lost queer history and identity.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Inspired by the symbolism of dreams, Emma Rubinson’s “Liminal” collection “challenges the idea of reality, as the emotions and sensations we experience in our dreams are no less real than our memories of the past or our projections of the future.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
A knee-length dress in hand-dyed silk charmeuse with convertible ties, from Lauren McGinnis’s “Claiming Space.” The collection was initially inspired by a photo of McGinnis’ mother, circa 1980, and by the “power dressing” that dominated that decade. “Having her as a strong female role model has undoubtedly shaped my own relationship with femininity and my idea of power.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Combining fashion and sustainability, Genna Torgan’s “LifeCycles” collection “tells a story about giving new life to old textiles, and giving life to that which has died and been regenerated.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Inspired by puzzles and code-breaking, Maggie Miller’s “Cryptography” collection “offers chaos through mixing textures, original prints, and hand-knit textile, yet clarity through clean geometry and structure.” Pictured is a zipped, collared jacket with wide sleeves; a mesh long-sleeve shirt and leggings; and wide-legged trousers with detachable legs, which can be attached to the jacket sleeves.
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Mirai Patel’s “Kensho” collection takes its title from a Zen term denoting one’s true nature. "The language of color in society, culture, and fashion has an extremely broad range of definitions and perceptions,” Patel says. “This collection is about delving deeper into the concept of color adaptation in terms of culture and identity with the way we perceive parts of the world and reflect on ourselves in our own unique ways.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
A one-piece jumpsuit in leather and featuring an original design print, from Sasha Bash’s “L’Dor VaDor” collection. “L’Dor VaDor is an homage to my Jewish identity and history,” Bash says. "I wanted to reclaim our narrative and present a collection from a distinctly Jewish perspective, one that is often lacked in the fashion industry.”
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Photography by Patrick Lanham
Each designer incorporated their own inspirations into their capsule collection. For example, one of the students, McGinnis, found inspiration in a photo of her mother at her first job in the early ’80s. “She was wearing this amazing power suit, complete with a bow,” explains McGinnis. “I have always been interested in the concept of ‘power dressing’ and this felt like a sign to pursue that, but to do so following my own design aesthetic.”
Another student, Miller, was inspired by codebreaking and took visual references from historic ciphers and codebreaking machines. “Many of the garments are designed with modular puzzle pieces that can be removed or rearranged in each look,” Miller says. “I also embedded my own secret code into the collection—the number of buttons on each look corresponds to letters that spell a message. It can be decoded by using the Vigenère Square and a secret keyword.”
For many of the students, the collections were their main focus since this school year began. ”I think the biggest challenge was that I put so much of myself into the collection personally, I also had to remind myself to keep somewhat of a distance from it,” says Adams. “The first thing I thought of every morning when I woke up was the collection—and it was the last thing I thought of before bed.”
Meanwhile, McGinnis said the hardest part for her was narrowing the collection down to six looks. “I felt attached to the sketches I had initially made,” she says. “However, this process allowed me to focus in on the final looks, and to refine them to be really polished and complete.”
“The Wash. U. senior BFA collection fashion videos will show that the pandemic has decentralized fashion,” says Ruppert-Stroescu. “Designing beautiful, relevant clothing can be done in St. Louis as readily as in any of the traditional fashion capitals.”
Judges for the senior awards include Xavier Brisoux, principal of Xavier Brisoux Knitwear Design and Consultancy, Lille, France; Bret Schnitker, CEO of Stars Designs in St. Louis; and alumna Emily Rubin, assistant buyer for Neiman Marcus in Dallas. Hair for editorial shots and video by The Dominic Michael Salon. Makeup for editorial shots was done by Smaila Mujakic. Video makeup by Randi Nicole of Randi Nicole Makeup.
