FIT’s Fashion of the Future runway show was amazing! With five specializations, including knitwear, sportswear, intimate apparel, special occasion and children’s wear, the top fashion designers of the 2017 graduating class put on quite a show. The looks were innovative.
The best collections were presented by designers Chris Gelinas, Erin Rechner, Flora Gill, Karen Sabag, Morgan Curtis, Victoria Lambourne, Isabella Tonchi, Peer Do, Sander Lak and Sophie Theallet.
There were six Critics Award winners. From Gaziantep, Turkey, sportswear designer Selen Sabin mentioned, “The best part of fashion is wearing the clothes. Fashion is one of the most effective ways to show your attitude towards life and style.” Sabin is inspired by the flow and cycle of life.
Taylor Ormond, a native from Chicago, Ill., excelled in the art of using glue sticks and threading a needle at an early age. He enjoys creating sportswear, and he designs clothing with a sense of humor and a splash of color. After graduating from Fashion Institute of Technology, he braced himself for Fashion of the Future with a smile as his most fashionable accessory.
To Jin Young Kim, from South Korea, fashion design is not just decorations created for people, it’s a connection between him and the world. “I combine beauty and practicality together in an art form,” he explained. “The world offers me a free source of inspiration, which I convert into practical art forms.”
Another Critic Awarded sportswear designer Samantha Kirshner, from Hewlett, N.Y., is immersed in all things creative. Her inspiration comes from spiritual and emotional responses to daily life. She often wonders why people dress the way they do and what they wear. There’s always the question of how folks feel in their clothes and whether or not their clothes lead them through their daily lives? Designing has been a way to express herself.
Jinwo Hong, from South Korea, dreams of being someone who seeks beauty, interprets it through a unique viewpoint and inspires it by creating. Coco Chanel once said, “Fashion is not something that exists in dress only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” This quotation describes Hong’s fashion point of view best. Fashion is what people wear. Fashion leads him to see what is happening in the world, and pushes the designer inside of it. It allows Hong to communicate with people without a word and has made him want to be a part of fashion design. Look out for these talented, young designers of the future. Good show!