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Fashion Forward

05/17/2011

RISD seniors Maya Varadarj, Pamela Ho, Rachel Pullman, Linzi Kofsky and Avery Reed are among the 50+ designers represented in this year's RISD Apparel Design show.

Long before Tim Gunn became a household name and Heidi Klum coined the dismissive phrase “You’re out,” RISD’s future trendsetters and tastemakers in Apparel Design had been rolling out their own signature creations for the runway. And they’re doing it again this Saturday, May 21 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, where students present a preview performance of COLLECTION 2011 at 2 pm and the real deal at 7 pm.

This fast-paced runway show of one-of-a-kind garments has been selected by visiting critics, who have been advising students throughout the year and represent some of the top names in fashion today – including Nicole Miller 73 AP, Tommy Hilfiger, Robert Geller 01 AP, Marcia Patmos 91 AP and Tina Lutz of Lutz & Patmos, and renowned costume designer Karen Young 88 AP.

After months of conceptual development, experimentation and hard work, more than 50 emerging designers will give enthusiastic audiences a first-hand look at some of the portfolio pieces that, along with their RISD degrees, will earn graduates jobs and internships at some of the world’s top fashion houses. In January, two dozen Apparel Design seniors converged on Geller’s TriBeCa studio, where he, Hilfiger, Lutz and Young gave students feedback on their work in progress – from concepts and inspiration to execution and choice of models.

COLLECTION 2011 will feature a series of projects by upperclassmen, but the focus will be on this year’s Apparel Design seniors, who will present designs for evening wear collections as well as their own thesis collections – unified bodies of work that highlight the conceptual and technical skills they hope will carry them into the professional world of fashion. This year, in place of the senior’s main fall semester project to design and construct a coat, Apparel majors designed collections in collaboration with the RISD Museum, drawing on themes from the current exhibition Cocktail Culture: Ritual and Invention in American Fashion, 1920-1980 (on view through July 31).

Juniors from Apparel Design will also drape models in their designs for the runway, mostly with knitwear and jackets. And selected sophomores will present pieces they created in response to the “Re-Innovatives” challenge, which calls on them to make wearable garments out of recycled, non-fabric materials. In past years, students have made clothing using everything from packing peanuts and tea bags to rubber gloves, balloons and sheet music.

Following the Saturday shows, students will sell selected items they’ve made at a sale open to the public. The post-show sale starts at noon on Sunday, May 22 in the lobby of the RISD Auditorium.

Ticket Info
$62, $42, $32 for downstairs seating, $42 for mezzanine, $24 for balcony
2 pm preview/rehearsal prices: $17 (advance purchase), $22 (day of show)
Proceeds benefit the RISD Scholarship Fund

Tickets are available at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) box office:
220 Weybosset Street - 401 421-ARTS or www.VMARI.com
hours: M–F 10 am – 5 pm, Saturday 10 am – 2 pm
Or the Veterans Memorial Auditorium (VMA) Box Office on the day of the show. 

For more information, please call 401 454-6741.

Media
selected hi-res images 
Contact: Jaime Marland at 401 427-6954 or jmarland@risd.edu.

Related links
RISD ‘Collection 2011’ student fashion show and video (Providence Journal)
Catching up with Tommy Hilfiger at RISD (Providence Journal)
Review: RISD’s Collection 2011 Fashion Show (GoLocalProv)