This Saturday marks the 45th Annual Apparel Design Fashion Show thrown by the University of Minnesota’s Apparel Design senior class. For the past six months, 17 individual designers have been working feverishly to develop, construct and execute each of their creative visions fit to walk the runway. Tomorrow evening the stitches must be closed, the heels high and the collections complete: It’s show time.
After perusing the very brief look books (read: one photo) and pithy bios of the 17 design-minds—all women I might add—I narrowed it down to my top three most anticipated collections of the evening.
Ellie Hottinger
Hottinger claims she creates “everyday couture” which sounds quite enticing to a couture adorer such as myself. A type of fashion difficult to execute without a very precise craft, couture is true artisan work, which Hottinger may just be able to do. The layers of fabric fall nicely on the viewable dress, which appears wearable in all of its beauty. I may swoon at this collection – I hope to.
Claire Ward
In Ward’s designs, she labels her craft as “mixing linear silhouettes with embellishments,” and all I hear from that is Marchesa; fine lines, elongated silhouettes and intricate embellishments are synonymous with the designer. After peeking at Ward’s gown available for preview, I immediately equated it with a bubblegum, sassy version of Marchesa – a younger sister so to speak. I’m curious to see the rest of this collection.
Mai Yang
Darling and feminine – that is what I am going to preemptively label Yang’s collection as. She yearns for the classics and timeless pieces, and the dress I viewed fits into both of those categories and combines them with a modern-dolly element. It’s really quite lovely. This collection is one to watch for.
Check out all 17 of the designs here.
What: FLUX – Senior Fashion Show 2013
Date: Saturday, February 16
Show Times: 5:30 p.m. & 8 p.m.
Location: Rapson Hall, 89 Church St. SE Minneapolis
Cost: $12 Balcony / $25 GA / $55 VIP
