Parsons MFA Spring/Summer 2013

The new MFA in Fashion Design and Society course at Parsons The New School for Design, ( a highly selective program initiated by Donna Karen ) showcased its first 18 graduates from all-over the globe, the show was held during MADE Fashion Week at Milk Studios. This first graduating class is truly international – its 18 students represent Australia, China, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Norway, Peru, Switzerland, Taiwan, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.

Jie Li

Highlights : avant-garde pastel pieces, customised headphones / headdress rhinestone floral my little pony 

Jie Li, 26, is from Beijing, China. During her studies at Parsons, she was a finalist in the Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty graduate fashion design competition organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute. Her work addresses the most fundamental of elements of designing clothes, that of craft, technique and making. For her graduate collection, she combined pleating and quilting, overlapping multiple layers of chiffon to create new colors.

Beckett Fogg

Highlights : oblong textured minimal clutch bags, seamlessly embossed leather and chiffon, clean silhouettes

Beckett Fogg, 24, was born and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. She graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010, where she earned a BFA in Architectural Design, minoring in Studio Art. Upon completion of her undergraduate degree, she moved to New York to study at Parsons, where she interned with Badgley Mischka, Cynthia Rowley, and Peter Som. A capsule collection she created as part of a special project with Donna Karan was selected to represent the United States during London Fashion Week as part of the International Fashion Showcase. 

Carly Ellis

Highlights : Jewellery neck-pieces and rings, sporty street-wear athletic and upbeat digital prints, below knee sport socks   

Carly Ellis, 24, was born and raised in northern England, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Westminster, where her thesis collection was featured in Vogue.com UK and Vogue Italia, and acclaimed by Hilary Alexander of London Telegraph. During her time at Parsons, Ellis styled signer Rye Rye for her national tour, album artwork and music video, and worked on commissioned pieces for SuperSuper magazine and the Candy Boutique in Tokyo. Using screen grabs to capture the moment before the software has time to fully process images of newsstands, I created designs that united the original inspiration, the Ndebele tribe, enabling me to fuse three seemingly different core influences.

Lucia Cuba

Highlights : the collection broadens your horizons to the forced sterilizations that have took place during Alberto Fujimori’s reign as President of Peru and many other cases of human rights abuse in Peru, I can discern the emotional personal connection Lucia has put into this Articulo 6 collection, using a fashion platform to raise social and political messages in the form of garments.  Prints on cotton and twill, Andean pollera inspired skirts. 

Lucia Cuba, 32, is a fashion designer and social scientist from Lima, Peru. Prior to coming to Parsons, she studied Fashion Design at Centro de Altos Estudios de la Moda , Peru, and earned a Bachelor’s in Social Psychology, a Master’s in Educational Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Public Health from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. She has participated in projects for the development of arts and culture in Peru and Latin America, and in conferences and workshops aimed at advancing the development of local emerging fashion.

Images courtesy of Milkmade + Metrovelevet