January 13, 2025

Flex Tech

Innovation in Every Curve

Fashion Institute of Technology Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Fashion Institute of Technology Spring 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection

“Beyond” was the title of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Master’s program show. Chosen collectively, the theme, the students wrote, “explores the limitless possibilities where creativity knows no borders. Drawing inspiration from our unique heritages, each garment transcends traditional norms, embracing fluidity in silhouette, texture, and identity.” Thirteen students participated in the show, and from look one, it was clear that this was not fashion as usual. It wasn’t just the exaggerated proportions and angular or otherwise exaggerated silhouettes, but the decentralization, in many cases, of the natural body.

Up first was Bryan Barrientos’s all-white collection, and an opening gown with a full, buoyant skirt, followed by a more slender, heavily corded, leaf-like wrap. Though not at all bodycon, these garments had organic shapes. Urvi Selarka, who describes herself as a “3D artist,” created undulating sculptural body surrounds. Of particular note was a semi-sheer scalloped dress with horn-like extensions at the top of the sleeves. From Natalia Robles Oteíza there were sheer, boned “cages” worn over simple sheaths. Alongside her keep-your-distance designs were close-to-the-body dresses with fabric flowers that literally hung from threads.

Fossils, rather than florals, were the starting point for their physicality and quality of preserving time and memory for Eunhae Cho’s collection, which, despite its inspiration, was quite fluid. Her button and loop closures allowed for customization. Cubist shapes defined many of Qi Yun’s pieces, yet there was also a sense of delicate movement in the overlong pant hems, the asymmetric fall of pleated fabric, and the loops falling from slashed sleeves on a sophisticated black coat. Practicing a gentler form of decon was Ziling Dong, whose line up was well-named Harmonious Collision. Soft sculpture might be the best way to describe Brunela Ramirez’s blown-up designs. Winsome was a padded, hooded coat and huge pants, a high fashion take on Frozen, perhaps? Evoking a different landscape were the lizards that were incorporated into the work of Yoon Seo Lee, including one trapped in what looked like gaffer tape over a trash bag, but which was a 3D printed belt and recycled nylon. In her bio, Lee wrote that she “finds inspiration in the overlooked details of everyday life and in the things that happen behind the scenes.” The title of her collection? Smuggler. Cindy Qianqian Dong also made use of that new technology to craft the looks in her lineup that looked like jewelry-garment hybrids as they featured bold silver “jewels” supported by invisible string and satin and chiffon bodices.

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