Designer Confidential: The Free Spirit

Designer Confidential highlights the work of SU's greatest fashion asset: its student designers.

Isadora Duncan remains to be one of the world’s most influential dancers-often referred to as the creator of modern dance. Her spirit has inspired countless creatives, even following her untimely death in 1927.

Senior designer Marteal Boniello chose Isadora Duncan as the muse for her final student collection. She focuses on the aspects of Isadora’s life as well as the events surrounding her death. Marteal states, “...[Duncan's] life [was] ended tragically by a scarf getting caught around her neck. [So] I began looking at neck braces and neck rings, and found the Kayan Lahwi tribe of women in Thailand to be my main inspiration.” She also looked to the work of Czech painter Alphonse Mucha to inspire the color palette of her collection.

Boniello incorporates a variety of silks into her collection as well as, woven stretch cotton, leather, and gold weave novelty fabrics as accents. Her color palette includes light, muted colors like mauve, taupe, cream, grayish purple and grayish blue, mixed with orange and gold. “It sounds strange in writing but the colors look very beautiful together,” Boniello explains.

Boniello has interned at Badgley Mischka for the past two years. For students in search of a fashion internship, Boniello suggests simply emailing your resume and contact information to prospective employers- that's what worked for her with Badgley Mischka. Boniello is a fan of many designers but her favorite fashion designer is the late Alexander McQueen. “He [was] a genius,” Boniello says.

Dream Job:

Boniello’s dream job is to be a fashion illustrator for a famous designer. Her position would involve sketching looks for collections and putting together inspiration boards among other things. “It’s a very challenging job, but I’d love to do it, “ Boniello says.

Designer Confidential:

“I would have to say I think my work looks better on paper then in the actual garment form,” Boniello laughs. Yet, if Boniello pursues her dream job as an illustrator this may work to her advantage.

- Christina Riggio

Designer Confidential: Lines of Asymmetry

Designer Confidential highlights the work of SU's greatest fashion asset: its student designers.

Senior fashion design major Hannah Slocum takes a unique, unbounded approach to design. The ingenious fashion student’s constantly expanding deposit of ideas adds up to create clothes that sparkle with vivacity and unexpected nuances. As a senior, she is given the task of designing three collections, one of which she will bring to life in the spring.

For the first set, Slocum was required to base her looks around the aesthetic of Isadora Duncan, a leader of modern dance. Duncan’s sensuous, flowing costumes are easy fodder for designers, but instead of just redesigning Duncan’s dancewear, Slocum’s collection tells a story- the deplorable tale of Duncan’s demise. An idyllic evening drive through Nice took a tragic turn when a scarf the dancer was wearing got snagged on one of the front wheels of the car she was riding in, strangling her. “I found inspiration in her death and the car she died in, a Bugatti Type 35... I mixed her style of flowing and draped clothes [with] the rigid structure of the car;...its engine and gears.”

Slocum’s taste however is not limited to the realm of the macabre. In fact, she names architecture, art, and sculpture as her top three sources of inspiration. The second collection she designed recalls the rhythmic work of abstract expressionist painter Alexander Calder. “I found inspiration in his lines: the geometric rigid lines versus the organic round [ones]. I created an all black collection with...silver metallic details [including] studs to resemble the nuts and bolts Calder used... The fabrics were chosen to mix texture and shine.”

For her final set of looks, Slocum steps away from 20th century art, basing her silhouettes on the amorphous structures of Zaha Hadid, a popular architect who’s design of the London Aquatic Center will take main stage at the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics.

“[Hadid’s]... design is very modern ...minimalist... and ... innovative. I love the organic forms and shapes she uses with a very stark color palette of mostly just whites and blacks.”

Dream Job: “I one day hope to own my own [design] company and...[put on] runway shows. I would love to have a boutique in Soho or [in] the meatpacking district [of] New York City. I also really love styling. My ultimate dream...is to be the next Grace Coddington and work on all of the top photo shoots at Vogue.”

Why you should look out for her: “...My designs are very unique in their asymmetry. I always play with proportion and balance.”

Designer Confidential: For the past two summers, she has worked as an intern at Narciso Rodriguez: “It's a smaller company and everyone is very friendly. I've helped out with his 2010 Resort show, Spring 2010 show at Bryant Park, the 2011 Resort show, and the Spring 2011 show at Lincoln Center. These experiences have taught me a lot about the real world.”

-Julie Kosin