Fashion’s Big Night – VCU News

By Jayla McNeil
VCU School of the Arts

In an evening of celebration and camaraderie, the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts Department of Fashion Design + Merchandising last week held its first in-person fashion event since 2019. The fashion show, #PROCESS2022, it showed the hard work, talent and creativity. of the department’s students.

This year’s event was held at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts on May 11. #PROCESS2022 included a fashion show, reception and exhibition, as well as a meeting with senior designers.

“Our goal was to pull back the curtain on fashion and demonstrate the design and merchandising process and how they work together to create ‘fashion,’” said Deidra Arrington, chair of the Fashion Design + Merchandising Department.

Michael-Birch Pierce sitting behind a sewing machine.  A is sitting across from Pierce, holding up a five-minute portrait made of them. VCUarts alumnus Michael-Birch Pierce, a VCU faculty member and renowned fiber artist and fashion designer, created five-minute portraits in one continuous line on a sewing machine. (Photo by Allen Jones, University Marketing)

The parade featured 75 garments from sophomore, junior and senior student designers and included design showcases with illustrations, draping and embroidery. Merchandising exhibits on line development, branding, forecasting and promotions demonstrated how creative becomes fashion.

“I loved seeing all the outfits on the models, because they bring them to life…especially with the sleeves open,” said Jaeden Wells, a senior designer who appeared at the show. “Being able to get movement and see how they move on the body is a completely different way of looking at clothes and experiencing them.”

Thematically, Wells’s collection was based on his conception of a “fairy goddess garden landscape” and focused on adaptability and sustainability.

“I tried to play with the adjustability and be able to fit different sizes,” he said. For example, one garment she designed for his resource class was made from recycled and second-hand materials and featured a corset, baggy jacket, and cut-outs in the dress.

Senior designer Stuti Epari created a zero-waste design that harkens back to the Maratha warriors of the Maratha Confederacy in 18th-century India. “I was inspired by the armor they wore,” Epari said. “ME [wanted] make the body a weapon.” Epari used chain mail and reflective fabrics in his design to mimic the appearance of armor.

A model in a pink and purple dress and white sandals walking down a fashion runway surrounded by people at the vmfaThe 2022 VCUarts Annual Fashion Show featured 75 pieces from sophomore, junior and senior student designers. (Photo by Allen Jones, University Marketing)

This year’s event featured a fashion expo that featured live sewing, custom fashion illustrations by alumnus Jen Paxton, and portraits created on a sewing machine by VCUarts faculty member and well-known alumnus Michael-Birch Pierce. fiber artist and fashion designer.

“Portrait embroidery is very much a performance,” Pierce said. “My model sits in front of me and I draw it on the sewing machine, in one continuous line, in less than five minutes. I have conversations all the time. For me, it’s about having these intimate connections facilitated by a completely unexpected use of a machine. The art is in the experience, not really in the finished product. This is my full time job outside of teaching. I travel the world doing portraits at parties and events like the Oscars and the Super Bowl.”

Pierce, who teaches embellishment and print design at VCU, was excited to enhance the fashion show experience for his seniors involved in the event and their families.

“I don’t do much to prepare or practice before each event, but my sewing education from VCU plus 11 years of events since developing this technique in grad school has been great preparation,” they said.

The event is a collaborative effort, beginning with the design students’ studio work and culminating with the fashion event planning class. This year’s event was especially poignant with the attendance of Mary DePillars, the wife of the late Murry N. DePillars, Ph.D., dean of VCUarts from 1976 to 1995, who opened the annual fashion show.

Jen Paxton sitting at a table with a pink tablecloth pattern across from a student in a gray hoodie. VCUarts alumna Jen Paxton created custom fashion illustrations for fashion show audience members. (Photo by Allen Jones, University Marketing)

After the show, the senior designers met with their models, who wore pieces from each other’s collections, for a meet and greet. During this time the designers spoke directly with the guests about their designs, experiences and creative processes.

“Our nation’s most promising students, serious and passionate, come to Richmond, Virginia from all over the country. And they come to learn, to reflect, to create,” said Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., dean of VCUarts. “It is these students who reflect a broad and distinctive creativity in their work. We see this in the materials they use, in their constructions, and in the aesthetics that underpin their productions.

“I believe that this event, #PROCESS2022, is indisputable proof of achievement, not only of the school, but more importantly, of our faculty and staff and, as we see here tonight, of our students.”

From left to right: Deidra Arrington and Carmenita Higginbotham standing side by side holding papers while laughing Deidra Arrington, Chair of the VCU Fashion Design + Merchandising Department, and Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., Dean of VCUarts at the 2022 annual fashion show, #PROCESS2022. (Photo by Allen Jones, University Marketing)

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