PFW Recap: The Art Institute of Portland Senior Collection Showcase

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Saturday, October 04, 2014

Kemea Smith, GoLocalPDX Contributor

Art Institute of Portland students, professors and alumni presented their collections Thursday, Oct. 2 on the last day of Portland Fashion Week in the TENTS.  

Although there were a few technical difficulties, the last night of Portland Fashion Week was a success. Indie pop band Foreign Talks played original songs such as "Rip it Up Slow," a ska-styled song with a head-bobbing beat. The four-piece band is coming out with a new album in November. 

Act One: Eco Couture 

Susan Bonde, Art Institute of Portland’s Fashion Show director, introduced the first collection to walk down the runway. The Eco Couture: Fashion Taking Action competition challenged local designers to create chic garments out of repurposed denim found at the Goodwill bins. 

The first piece to go down the runway was a faded denim romper with red, white and green floral side panels and a front bow. Nike color designer China Zamboanga’s romper was the viewers' choice winner, and won third place in the eco competition. Shredded light denim and white jeans were used as the shoulder details for Zamboanga’s romper, which also had a diagonal striped pattern made from using duct tape and bleach. 
The majority of the denim garments were above-the-knee dresses; however, Brady Lange’s garment was an exception. His rhinestone, dark denim shirt with cap sleeves and high-waisted jeans reflected his ready-to-wear design aesthetic and looked like a garment that would be flattering for every woman. 

A crowd pleaser was a garment that had a hand-painted lilac flower design on a denim train and was paired with a denim v-neck top and high-waisted shorts. 

After the eco-couture collection, Bonde welcomed Looptworks to the stage. Portland-based design company Looptworks uses excess textiles and other materials from manufacturing industries to create up-cycled accessories. Their newest project launching in November will be a collection of high-quality handbags, totes and backpacks that are made of salvaged airline seats from Southwest Airlines.

 

Catherine Stephenson was unexpectedly brought up on stage and thanked for all her hard work and for teaching students the specialized technique of haute couture. Students of her classes debuted some of their gowns, a memorable one being a strapless, cream-colored dress that stops right below the knees and has a pretty pink floral design that flows up to the waist.  

Act Two: Senior Collection Showcase 

The senior collection showcase started off with children's designer Tania Naef. The collection featured free-machine, red-flower embroidery on the neckline and sleeves of jackets. The simple color pallette included deep red shades, ivory and shiny amber. 

Hannah Pare debuted an edgy collection featuring garments that were sprayed with bleach to create a raw, acid-wash look. Quilted sewing techniques were used on many of the strait-jacket looking jackets and vests.

Pare hopes to delve into men's clothing in the future, saying, “I really want guys to wear my clothes too.” 

Next up was Anya Shevchenko's plus-size collection, featuring purple skinnies with gold sparkles and flowy asymmetrical long-sleeved sweater. Bianca Spring’s also showed a plus-size collection inspired by 1960s style.   

Heavy rock boomed out of the speakers as models stomped on the runway for Mandy Nelson’s goth- and Norwegian-folklore inspired collection. The dark black lipstick and green wigs worn by the models, complemented the tough-girl look. The final look had the audience cheering, and included an extravagant black horn headpiece.    

The last collection to go down the runway was “Ascension” by Melanie Dixon. The collection was all about providing chic business wear for women. A gold dress with a wide, light-gold band across the middle section walked down the runway as the final look.  

Homepage Photo Credit: mandiberg via Compfight cc (image cropped) 

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Related Slideshow: Slideshow: PFW Recap: The Art Institute of Portland Senior Collections

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• PFW Recap: Couture & Bridal Collections
• PFW Recap: Ready To Wear Collections
• Portland Threads: Fashionistas at Portland Fashion Week

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