I began creating fashion to challenge what is accepted as wearable; to create ready-to-wear garments without sacrificing art. Central to my art-to-wear process is an attention to detail, where I take real-life motifs and translate them and their function into fashion. The language these details create – screws holding seams together, window blind strings as cufflinks – blend unconventional material into the world of design and make fashion accessible where it was once considered not. Giving material a second purpose is my way of forming my design practice around sustainability. I design to prove that you can wear anything, anywhere, anytime. I became, and am still, driven by this purpose.
Title Slide, 2024
Mood Board / Color Story, 2024
Look 1, 2024
Look 2, 2024
Look 3, 2024
Look 4
Look 5, 2024
Look 6, 2024
Look 7, 2024
Look 8, 2024
“A Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause” is a narrative collection and fashion odyssey blending the aesthetics of the circus and the sea, the story and garments birthed from the personalities of four characters. Each material and its function are carefully and purposefully thought out to drive the storyline while remaining in the world of fashion. Considering materials uncommonly seen in fashion gives them dual purpose, one side fashion, and the other function. The newfangled use of shipyard materials like rope, boat cleats, and discarded ocean fishing nets and buoys, sourced from small marine handcrafters and an ocean cleanup organization are showcased in each garment through a theatrical lens. This collection caps my time at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, acting as the final (sailors) knot to my body of work, sustainably sourcing textiles by repurposing materials used in my previous garments and collections in reimagined ways, maximizing the lifespan of materials. With its innovative perspective of where fashion and costume meet, this collection becomes an entertaining symbol of my art-to-wear design philosophy. The garish literality of the coral engulfing the ship outlines where fashion is costume. Amidst the external fascination, the details in each garment like the screws, elephant head, and hand knotting exhibit the importance of nonabstract details when shaping the personality of each garment or in the case of “A Sinking Ship, The Grand Applause,” a concept.