Academy of Art University at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
Academy of Art University at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week

NEW YORK, Jan 25, 2009 / FW/ — Now on its fifth year of showcasing the graduation collections of its students at Bryant Park, the San Francisco-based School of Fashion at Academy of Art University is bringing one menswear and five womenswear collections from the Fashion Design, Textile Design and Knitwear Design programs.

Scheduled to be presented on Friday, February 13th at 8:00 PM in The Tent at Bryant Park, AAU presents the following recent graduates: Emily Melville, Fashion Design, Ivanka Georgieva, Textile Design, Heather Howard, Fashion Design, Cat Janky, Textile Design, I-Shan Liou, Fashion and Knitwear Design, Myoung Hee Kim, Textile Design, Qianya Martin, Fashion and Knitwear Design, Scott McFarland, Fashion and Knitwear Design and The Britex Fabrics Project.

Emily Melville, Fashion Design

Born in Connecticut and raised in California and Virginia, Emily developed her silhouettes by draping wool fabric on a dress form to experiment three-dimensionally and then used creative cutting techniques to construct unconventional shapes.

Ivanka Georgieva, Textile Design

This season Ivanka used a combination of screen-print, dye, iron, and pigment discharge to recreate the look of landscape paintings inspired by the work of artist Leslie Shows. Ivanka was born and raised in Pernik, Bulgaria.

Heather Howard, Fashion Design

For her sustainable collection, Heather drew from her upbringing in Portland, Oregon where hiking, backpacking, sciences and arts were important to her family. Early environmentalists John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt inspired her.

Cat Janky, Textile Design

Cat’s figurative and sometimes-macabre prints are based on photographs of American life in the late 1800s. She created a modern play on traditional silkscreen prints of stripes, checks and polka dots. Cat is from Omaha, Nebraska.

I-Shan Liou, Fashion and Knitwear Design

Born and raised in Changhua, Taiwan, I-Shan was inspired by the mood of Sam Francis’ paintings of earth, water, air and fire for her silhouette, color story and irreverent use of soft luxurious angora yarn.

Myoung Hee Kim, Textile Design

Myoung Hee bonded her bright chiffon and paper print designs onto I-Shan’s knitted fabrics. Myoung Hee was born in Seoul, Korea where she spent most of her childhood before moving with her family to British Columbia, Canada.

Qianya Martin, Fashion and Knitwear Design

A native of Southern California, Qianya developed her collection watching the flares, ripples and repetition of the ocean and tide pools on Agate Beach in Bolinas, California. She introduced sheer fabric as the ocean has no embellishments, no make-up and nothing to hide.

“My collection is about tuning in to the purest nature of yourself and just being accepted for the beauty of who and what you are.”

Scott McFarland, Fashion and Knitwear Design

Scott translated his skills as a formally trained sculptor to knitwear design. His experience with three-dimensional shapes, texture and color led him to experiment with knitting techniques. He made his own yarn by cutting lace fabric into strips and hand-knitting them to create heavier knits for his coats.

Born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas, Scott was inspired by Art Deco patterns, metal work, architecture and 1920s androgynous styles.

Blue Sky Alpacas, yarn designers and distributors in Minnesota, donated yarn to Scott’s collection. www.blueskyalpacas.com

The Britex Fabrics Project

Since 1952, Britex Fabrics has maintained a knowledgeable, international sales staff to help customers navigate the 10,000 square foot building, which is home to an amazing wealth of fabrics and trims from all over the world. Located in the heart of San Francisco’s Union Square shopping district, Britex Fabrics remains one of the city’s landmark institutions.

A group of third year Fashion Design students created this collection from fabrics such as medium and oversized houndstooth, glen plaids, wool gauze mounted over gingham twill, mohair, bouclé and wool crêpe donated by Britex Fabrics. Seven looks will be previewed at the New York Show and the entire collection will be shown in San Francisco on April 23rd.

Students who collaborated on this collection are Jonathan Baker, Aliena Gorter, Phuong Tran, April Howard, Irawati Salim, Bora Han, Eun Jung Kim, Krista Nunn, Bethany Meuleners, Aura Taylor, Cara Chiappetta, Steven Lai, Hyo Sun An, Naomi Sutton and Hui-Chun Chang.

www.britexfabrics.com

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New York Fashion Week Fall 2009