It is officially graduation season out here in San Francisco and that means only one thing - AAU Graduation Fashion show! Graduating seniors show off their collections to fellow students, industry big wigs and proud teachers + parents. After two semesters of hard work, 30 students majoring in fashion design, costume design, knitwear design, jewelry + metal arts and textile design, present 20 collaborative lines including women and menswear.
From those 20 collections, 5 stood above the rest with their bold use of color and eccentric shape play - something that the Academy of Art design department is known for. Next up are 5 break-out designers that went above and beyond expectations, serving fierce looks down the runway!
Scroll down to see the 5 best lines from the Academy of Art Fashion Show!
Bowen Tian
BFA Fashion Design
Photo courtesy of Bowen Tian’s Instagram
Bowen Tian’s collection was surrounded around the idea of sleep in your garment, as art students pull all-nighters Tian brings the idea of take your bed with you! The collection brought forth unique silhouettes and an unusual choice of fabric - but one that worked perfectly for her inspiration. The way she brought together a useful outfit and stand out designs, there is no wonder she is a CFDA and Teen Vogue scholar!
Aastha Shah
BFA Fashion Design
Photo courtesy of Aastha Shah’s Instagram
Aastha Shah’s collection was based of Holi, a festival of colors and love in Inda, Madhubani Painting, painting done with fingers, twings, matchsticks, ect, and Mehndi, a form of body art. Offering up bright printed garments against the all white fabric paired with asymmetrical pieces created quite the eyesight, bopping up and down the runway! The ties to her heritage and homage to the cultural of India creates a celebratory collection earning Shah a harty Bravo!
Jessica V. Wijaya
BFA Fashion Design
Photo courtesy of Jessica V. Wijaya’s Instagram
Jessica Wijaya names her collection "Distortion”, this line comes to life through her inspirations about her childhood. Two key ideas about her childhood are where she attend her primary schooling and the game rubberbands, both involved high creativity and allowed her imagine run. These past memories led into her neon pink collection with detailed beading that are visually striking, creating a fun and funky mood for the runway.
Jeanne Marie Sanguinetti
BFA Fashion Design
Photo courtesy of Jeanne Marie Sanguinetti’s Instagram
Jeanne Marie Sanguinetti collection stems inspiration directly from the game pac man, including all the the characters, symbols and colors of the original game. It was a shake up on the runway, straying away from more abstract concepts while being widely forward, something that paid off for Sanguinetti. The structured designs versus the playfulness of the garments harmonized beautifully, a fun twist of excitement from this collection!
Jiran Xia
BFA Fashion Design
Photo courtesy of Jiran Xia’s Instagram
Jiran Xia explored the the contrast between the lightness of air against the gravity of earth, wanting to capture the 3D aspect of vision in the silhouette and the earths ground in the embroidery. Using feathers in several looks to show the connection of animals to humans and having a prints represent plants to bring the whole concept of nature together in a soft pallet. A combination that was implemented effortlessly and garments that gracefully glided down the runway.
These standout stars all brought their own passion and creativity to the runway, excelling past expectations! To watch the full runway show click here and be sure to let us know which collection was your favorite in the comments!
