California College of the Arts’ Senior Fashion Show in San Francisco

Using ballooning skirts and rigid armor, graduating seniors of the California College of the Arts’ fashion design program stretched the standard proportions of normal apparel silhouettes to sculptural forms.

The runway show included 13 senior-thesis collections that were selected by a jury of industry professionals: Gordon Henderson, a New York–based designer; Jeanne Allen, executive director of the San Francisco Fashion Incubator; and Erica Tanov, a designer in Berkeley, Calif.

One star student was Vishaka Sachi Henrietta, who won a Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) scholarship. Her collection was inspired by “negative space and curvilinear shapes, eroded coastline landscapes, and the work of the Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida.” Henrietta employed different textures, such as a top with layered sweater knit folds on the collar on a matte black blouse in a woven fabric.

Glossy fashion magazine Surface presented its “Emerging Talent Award” and an internship to Ashley Eva Brock. Her work will be featured in the magazine’s “Avant Guardian” issue.

Brock’s collection juxtaposed sharply tailored elements with skirts that fluidly rippled. An additional internship at Surface was awarded to James Zormier, whose collection looked like the costumes for a futuristic sci-fi movie with cutout silicon breastplates and sleeves.

Annie McCourt was influenced by a recent internship in India, where she designed a collection out of recycled textiles. Her senior designs strove to use the least amount of fabric-waste scraps possible by cutting and patterning with only straight lines and 90-degree and 60-degree angles. She used fabrics that mixed well with triangular-shape draping, such as silk charmeuse and Italian wool knit.

Another student influenced by international travel was Lauren Levin, who studied in Geneva, Switzerland. Her ensembles drew from a “global collage” of influences, such as traditional Ecuadorian clothing, handcrafted details and sheer textiles.

In addition to senior-thesis collections, outfits from the “Fashioning Functional Gear” course, taught by fashion designer Lyndsie Nash and industrial designer Colin Owen, were also shown.

Students were challenged to create functional, wearable gear that solved a particular problem. One example was Rachel Gant, who made a colorful belt with a dog leash attached.—Rhea Cortado

Photography by Stevan Nordstrom / California College of the Arts

Be sure to check out all of the images from the fashion show here.