Art Institute of New York City Spring 2016 Fashion Show

The AINYC show was held last night as part of New York Fashion Week’s official schedule and I went along to review as the resident professor-journalist. While it is difficult to be utterly objective with students I know so well, what I now find most interesting are the stories behind the collections and the personal stories of the students which I am privy to know but happy to share (I have permission, promise)…

Opening the show is engineer/designer Kiki Terrels’ sporty armor-inspired menswear. Fusing onto reliable cotton staples swathes of luxury leather and welded metal joints and hinges that mimic the movement of elbows and knees, he brings a dose of medieval swagger to the Moynihan Skylight runway. He may also have secretly consulted with discerning cannibal, Dr Hannibal Lector, for the finely crafted leather and metal masks.

Rujing Liu’s collection, Dear Mother, recalls her birth under the Chinese regime in which only 1 child is permitted per family. Rujing’s mother bore three, all girls, of which Rujing was the last. “Their last chance to have a boy,” she clarifies. The status of being born “against the law” but in a loving family has influenced Rujing whose primary concern in her designs is comfort––she uses the word often. Why all linen? “How it takes colors makes me feel comfortable.” The loose shapes recall the ease of her culture with their aprons and pouches and the barefoot models evoke the carefree shoeless play of childhood. “I see women in 7 inch stilettos, in clothes so tight they can hardly sit and I don’t find that attractive,” she explains. Continue reading here…