CFDA Fashion Futures Graduate Showcase 2018 at NYFW Men’s

While the rest of the world zeroed in on soccer’s finalists for the
World Cup, the CFDA held a two day event coinciding with New York Fashion
Week Men’s to showcase the best of 2018’s graduate fashion designers.
Fashion Futures Graduate Showcase presented the work of 53 top-of-the-crop
students personally selected by the CFDA in partnership with the New York
City Economic Development Corporation. Emerging from 8 of the nation’s top
schools the graduates exhibited their portfolios along with looks from
their final collections at Industria Studios in Manhattan. The schools
represented were Parsons School of Design, Pratt Institute, Fashion
Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design, Savannah College of
Art and Design, Kent State University, Academy of Art University, and
California College of the Arts. The purpose of the event was to provide
industry exposure for the most exciting new designers, keeping the talent
pipeline flowing into the fashion capital’s garment industry. The group was
then further whittled and the following 4 designers were chosen to
participate in a presentation on the morning of the final day of New York
Fashion Week Men’s.

Zhouyi Li from San Francisco’s Academy of Art University likens
designing clothes to building a home right on one’s body and the angular
protrusions in rich terracotta leather emerging from the black tailoring
recall the modular components of our favorite Restoration Hardware sofa. A
chip off the old block, her father worked in the construction business and
so buildings and sculptures are her go-to source of inspiration.

Peng Ye of Parsons School of Design says she is interested in minimalism
but her interpretation eschews the idea of simplicity the word is typically
imbued with in favor of sleek randomness and what she describes as a
“concentration of enriched process.”

Pratt’s Taliah Leslie draws from the festivals and rituals of her
multicultural background to experiment with textiles in dynamic colors
combinations and create clothes that demonstrate strength and
inclusivity.

Parsons graduate Britt Luttio’s collection, a blend of gentle drape and
deconstructed tailoring, is fueled by her love of art and dressmaking.
Dealing with topics of identity and femininity in a predominantly black
palette with shots of red, merging shine with opaque, the psyche of the
contemporary woman is revealed in the myriad possibilities of shape and
cut.

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 by FashionUnited.com