Collection 2026: Rhode Island School of Design’s Apparel Design Seniors to Debut Their Work in Annual Runway Show

Students will premiere their looks at Providence’s WaterFire Arts Center on May 27

PROVIDENCE, RI  – April 8, 2026 –  Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Apparel Design seniors will debut their one-of-a-kind creations on the runway at Collection 2026. The Apparel Design department’s popular fashion show offers audiences an exclusive look at the latest fashion emerging from RISD studios. Shows will take place on Wednesday, May 27 at 4 pm and 7 pm at the WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, Providence, RI.

Collection 2026 tickets are $35 for the 4 pm show and $50 for the 7 pm show. Tickets are available for purchase online at risd.edu/collection. For more information, please email apparel@risd.edu or visit the Collection page on risd.edu.

“Every senior in the department is required to conceptualize and construct a minimum of six silhouettes in order to participate in the annual runway show,” says Apparel Design Department Head Gwen Van Den Eijnde. “They are given time to experiment with and develop their ideas—free from the constraints of commercial logic—producing bespoke work that demonstrates meticulous attention to material selection. Each of our graduating students has a unique signature that celebrates the intelligence of the human hand”

Twelve aspiring designers—Azaria VanDerStok-Smallwood, Cali Kircher, Day Koo, Ellia Baldwin, Ji Hu Park, Liam St.Clair-Rounds, Mariam Devadze, Maya Muravlev, Micaela Giulianelli, Nerukessa, Paige Sias, and Zoe Goldemberg—were tasked with creating their own unified bodies of original work throughout their senior year at RISD. Their individual collections evoke everything from archaic rituals to the costumes that might be worn by creatures from another galaxy to personal memories of place. “These collections invite us into imaginative and largely joyful worlds,” says Van Den Eijnde. “Amid the challenging realities of today’s world, we are all in need of hope, joy, and optimism.”

Thanks to a generous grant from Solstiss Lace Academy, six students were sponsored to incorporate French couture lace into their designs this year. Seniors also continued to work with IFF, a global leader in scent, flavor, health and bioscience. RISD and IFF have been working together since 2019 and recently launched an official three-year partnership. At the studio level, IFF generously provides Apparel Design students with access to its artists of perfumery. Each year, graduating Apparel Design seniors consider the question “How would your collection smell if it were a perfume or scent?” As students refine their collections throughout the year, IFF perfumers lend their creativity and expertise in the art of scent creation to develop scents unique to the collections as they take shape. At the same time, RISD students provide fresh insights into the process of developing scent from the perspective of apparel design. This relationship is exemplary of partnerships we value most at RISD: creative cross-pollination that elevates the curiosity, craft, artistry, practice, and ambition of all participants.

Seniors Azaria VanDerStok-Smallwood and Paige Sias are among this year’s Virgil Abloh “Post-Modern” scholars. Established at the Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) in 2020 by late fashion industry visionary Virgil Abloh HD 21, the Fund was created to expand opportunities in the fashion industry by providing scholarships to students who identify as Black or African American and those who reflect the creativity, curiosity, and progressive spirit that drive this work forward. 

Graduating seniors are poised to join a group of prominent RISD alumni in the apparel industry. Whether they launch their own studios, pursue careers with retail leaders, or enter into related fields, graduates of the program employ sustainable practices that respect craft and labor while centering the wearer throughout the design process. 

About Rhode Island School of Design
RISD (pronounced “RIZ-dee”) is a creative community founded in 1877 in Providence, Rhode Island. Today, we enroll 2,577 students hailing from 60 countries. Led by a committed faculty, they are engaged in more than 40 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and supported by a worldwide network of over 33,000 alumni who demonstrate the vital role artists and designers play in today’s society.

Beyond facts and figures, what is the spirit of this community? Through a cross-disciplinary curriculum of studio-based learning and rigorous study in the liberal arts, RISD students are encouraged to develop their own personal creative processes, but they are united by one guiding principle: in order to create, one must question. In cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD seeks to activate a critical exchange that empowers artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world. RISD’s mission, at both the college and museum, is not only to educate students and the public in the creation and appreciation of works of art and design, but to transmit that knowledge and make global contributions. Visit risd.edu to learn more.

RISD contact:
Danielle Mancuso 
Associate Director, Public Relations / RISD
dmancuso@risd.edu
401 454-6334