VERY VERY Handsome Photographer and America’s Next Top Model Judge Nigel Barker sat front row with invitation in hand! Melrose crashed, ended up front row and backstage.

Photos by John Perez.

The School of Fashion will showcase the Spring 2008 collections of recent graduates during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in a fashion show on Saturday, September 8th at 7:00 PM in The Tent in Bryant Park, Sixth Avenue at 41st Street in New York City.

The University promotes its fashion design, textile design and knitwear design graduates with a fashion show of this magnitude to premier the young designers’ debut collections to an audience of local, national and international media; fashion industry, retail and HR executives; recruiters; designers; and society to aid in securing job placement.

“Part of our commitment to the graduate designers is to help launch their careers and have their collections seen by as many industry people as possible,” said Dr. Elisa Stephens, president of the University. “Debuting the collections during New York Fashion Week makes sense as the national and international fashion community is in town at that time.”

“The University has shown annually since September 2005,” added Stephens. “We will increase our graduate profile by showing twice a year beginning with February 2008 New York Fashion Week.”

Backstage with the hair team from Workgroup led by Tokyo. Photo by John Perez.

The young designers get prepped before the show. Photo by John Perez.

MinSun Lee being interviewed backstage. Photo by John Perez.

Tokyo of Workgroup with model. Photo by John Perez.

Illustration by Gladys Perint Palmer.

BFA and MFA Graduates of the School of Fashion presented their runway collections in the biggest fashion show San Francisco has seen in years. A tent was constructed reminiscent of New York Fashion Week with over 1500 people at each of the three showings. The School of Fashion promotes its recent graduates with a show of this magnitude to showcase the young designers’ debut collections to an audience of local, national and international media, fashion industry and store executives, recruiters, designers, society, and HR executives, to help secure job placement and to launch their careers.

In September, Macy’s Passport 2006 Gala Fashion Show premiered in San Francisco before opening in Los Angeles. Special guests included Dame Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, Priscilla Presley, Brooke Shields, Jimmy Smits, John O’Hurley who is most recently recognized from his well-publicized stint on Dancing with the Stars, Italian pop opera star Vittorio, Sean John designer Sean Combs, and Heatherette designers Richie Rich and Traver Rains.

Nine School of Fashion students and one Fine Art Sculpture student saw their collections featured on the runway with fashion labels such as Hugo Boss, Sean John, Heatherette, American Rag, Greendog, MAC Viva Glam and more.

For the past 24 years, Macy’s Passport has increased social awareness of HIV/AIDS related issues, and raised nearly $22 million to benefit HIV/AIDS research, care, prevention and education programs. Passport 2006 supported the continued commitment to vital vaccine research, as well as community-based prevention, education, care and advocacy programming. These programs reach thousands of men, women, teens and children who are living with or at risk of contracting HIV, ensuring they live their lives with dignity.

Following the Heatherette segment which ended with designers Richie Rich and Traver Rains taking their runway bow on roller skates, the Academy of Art University segment began.
BFA Fine Art Sculpture student Crystal Powell showed her hummingbird sculpture jewelry on a dress by MFA Fashion designer Channing Bui. Their combined outfit was shown alongside two looks from Patty Chan, MFA Fashion Merchandising. One look showcased Patty’s jewelry with a dress by MFA Fashion designer Andrea Vence and the other with a dress by MFA Textile and Fashion designer Kyung Min Kim.

Four collections that premiered earlier in September at New York Fashion Week were showcased as well. Not only is Academy of Art University the first and only school to premier graduate collections during New York Fashion Week but is honored to be included in Macy’s Passport 2006.

Handsome models strutted down the runway in MFA Fashion designer Masamichi Matsushita’s collaborative menswear collection with BFA Textile designer Susan Fort. Their futuristic collection incorporated organic cotton donated by Specialty Fabrics and O-Wool by Jasco organic wool donated by Vermont Organic Fiber Company [www.vtorganicfiber.com].
MFA Fashion designer Shanti Rose Markstrom’s collection was inspired by Commedia del’arte and Victorian circus performers as well as French artists Jean-Antoine Watteau and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

MFA Fashion and Knitwear designer Pablo Fernandez created an avant-garde menswear collection inspired by the early-80s, vintage cartoons and WWI paraphernalia. Pablo was a 2004 CFDA Scholarship Award recipient. In May 2006, Pablo was awarded an internship at Louis Vuitton in Paris for 2007 after Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris Responsible for Culture and Director of Fashion Strategy of the LVMH Fashion Group, met Pablo and viewed his portfolio.
MFA Fashion designer Avani Pratap Bhansali’s passion for ancient civilization and dynasties led to her inspiration from the intricacies of Persian art. She researched archival metal work, pottery and textiles and incorporated the texture into her designs. She also took architectural elements and was inspired by the loose silhouettes worn at that time.

Photos by Randy Brooke.

Pablo Fernandez, a native of Uruguay, had a two-page spread in the Spanish newspaper El Diario La Prensa who interviewed Pablo backstage before the show. They also put one of his looks on the cover of their Sunday, September 10th edition.

Pablo incorporated his fashion and knitwear design focus into an avant-garde collection inspired by the early-80s, vintage cartoons and WWI paraphernalia. Pablo was a 2004 CFDA Scholarship Award recipient. In May 2006, Pablo was awarded an internship at Louis Vuitton in Paris for 2007 after Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris Responsible for Culture and Director of Fashion Strategy of the LVMH Fashion Group, met Pablo and viewed his portfolio. Pablo’s collection was showcased on the runway of the 24th Annual Macy’s Passport 2006 in San Francisco and Los Angeles. He accepted a position with Nice Collective here in San Francisco before moving to New York to work on a collection with his twin brother Ernesto who graduated from the School of Fashion two years earlier.

Photos by Randy Brooke.

In addition to being featured on NY 1 News, Japanese fashion designer Mari Matsumoto and Korean textile designer Kyung Min Kim are listed on Forbes.com as “Designers to Watch” and an image from their collection appeared in Women’s Wear Daily with the review of the show.

Mari incorporated her understanding of Japanese clothing and the Kabuki way of styling into her collaborative collection with Kyung who based her textiles on Mari’s journey from grief to growth following the death of her mother. Mari and Kyung were also featured in a two-page spread in the Summer 2006 issue of Art Works Magazine.

Kyung Min has decided to create a collection for New York in 2007 while Mari will return to Japan to pursue her fashion career.