N.C. State held its inaugural Fashion Week April 11-13, an event that combines design leaders from the industry and fashion students from around the world.
Presented by the College of Textiles, Fashion Week included opening and closing ceremonies with two unique fashion shows, “Avant-Garde” and “Color Fusion.” There were forums on innovation and creativity, exhibitions from faculty and students, and a marketplace with North Carolina artisans, designers and craftsmen.
Along with students from the College of Textiles, students from Donghua University in China and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University participated in the event.
Presenters at Fashion Week included Barry Miguel, president of 7 For All Mankind; Anastasia Charbin , fashion market director for Lectra Headquarters in France; Katrina Streiner , creative director of the Charlotte-based Belk; Darryl Carter, a nationally-recognized interior designer; and professors from the London College of Fashion, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Donghua University.
Carter, a speaker at the creativity forum, has been featured in several publications, including Veranda, Town and Country, Elle Décor and Architectural Digest. Carter, who re-designs houses, spoke about his process during his presentation “The Collected Home.”
“I place things in order to draw you through the house, suggesting that you explore. There needs to be a relationship between the architecture and the sense of space to be a singular experience. It’s all about innovation and maintaining the continuity of the experience,” Carter said.
According to Carter, his business focuses on creativity, passion and vision. He said it is important to understand the lifestyle and the market he’s working with, and his business works because of the partnership between his design team, his operations and his clients.
Carter said he likes intervening the architecture with art, and he prefers things to feel serene. He juxtaposes the antique against the modern, and the exterior has to engage with the interior of a space. He’s also against framing art.
“I think people ridiculously frame art. What are you looking at, the art or the frame? You don’t need your house to look like a museum. It does not need to be a Picasso, it just needs to speak to you,” Carter said.
Fay Gibson and Nancy Webster, professors in textile apparel and technology management, were the co-chairs of the event. Webster considered Fashion Week to be a huge success.
“I really think that we’ve accomplished our mission to expose our students to professionals and have a dialogue with them,” Webster said. “We’ve exposed our students to the industry and the creative work that’s going on in exhibitions and on the runway.”
Gibson praised the professionalism of N.C. State’s Fashion Week. “I’ve had several people search me out and tell me how organized and great Fashion Week was. Some even said they’d gotten back from Fashion Week in New York, and [N.C. State’s Fashion Week] was superior to a conference in New York City,” Gibson said.
Lisbeth Arias, a sophomore in fashion textile design, was of the student designers selected to show her work in the closing fashion show, “Color Fusion.”
The show, which included approximately 46 outfits, was judged by a jury of industry professionals and included monetary prizes for the students with the best designs. According to Arias, all of the students in the College of Textiles had to create something for Fashion Week, whether it was for the marketplace, exhibitions or fashion shows. Arias redesigned one of her pieces she made last semester.
Arias created her own fabric through the software program Kalido and hand-made all the scales.
“My garment was ‘A Siamese Fighter,’ and was inspired by the beta fish–the tail of the fish is what they’re known for,” Arias said. “I really wanted to bring out the beta fish alive on the woman’s silhouette. I used wire inside the skirt to really get a full shape. I also used tulle to have the shape go out and not be dependent on the body. When I redesigned my garment, color was the emphasis.”
“I’m happy to have the opportunity to be a part of the forums and bring in a different perspective on design and creativity,” Arias said.
Yen Gao , a production manager for Kohl’s, came to Fashion Week in search of recruitment opportunities.
“N.C. State has a foundation for future recruitment. I came to Fashion Week to talk to professors and students and to understand the program better for recruitment purposes,” Gao said.
Alana Young, a junior in Fashion and Textile Management, served as one of the student advisory board ambassadors for Fashion Week. The ambassadors hosted the sponsors and attended the events with them, showing them around the college.
“I’m learning about all the work that gets put behind setting up and getting the events together. I’m looking forward to meeting a lot of people that work in the industry. It’s a great networking service,” Young said.
