2024 FASHION PARTNERSHIPS
Yunzi Zhang creates her work from a fine art perspective and views her pieces as independent installations rather than ready-to-wear garments. The interactive nature of her work allows the wearer to play with the endless possibilities of dressing, which creates immersive experiences that provoke emotions. Her work represents tension and freedom through the juxtaposition between soft materials and strong architectural structures. Materiality plays an essential role in Yunyi’s work through the use of sustainable material, bio textiles, and dead stock yarns. To build a soft armor that surrounds the body, she integrates new technology and unconventional materials with traditional techniques, such as crocheting around 3D printing structures. Yunyi views her work as a comforting and immersive tactile experience with a tone of futuristic couture.
T'KOR COUTURE is a luxury brand that is highly regarded for its handcraftsmanship, attention to detail, and celebration of Black culture. T’kor Couture was founded by Dinah Clottey in the midst of the pandemic and uprising in the demand of justice for Black Lives in the summer of 2020. T'kor Couture's collections feature powerful stories of hope to marginalized communities, utilizing eccentric color and elaborative stitches to promote the feeling of joy. All of T’kor Couture’s garments are ethically and thoughtfully produced through the use of sustainable fibers and limited stock in order to reduce waste. Currently, each piece is handmade by Dinah in her own home studio.
Vicky Duanyan Chen, a Suzhou-born, New York-based creative, is a multifaceted artist blending fashion design, styling, and illustration. Her work intricately examines everyday objects and scenes, capturing the essence of time and movement. Inspired by fleeting moments and the beauty in ordinary life, Vicky merges her artistic vision with personal experiences to craft pieces that exude wit, ease, joy, and uniqueness. Her explorations span 2D and 3D realms, manifesting in diverse media including paintings, garments, and films.
Yaqi (Vivian) Zhan is a recent BFA Fashion Design graduate from the Parsons School of Design and a finalist for the 2022 CFDA Scholarship Fund. Fascinated by the diverse roles that dressing plays, her work explores themes of self-expression, protection, blending in, and exposure. The dynamic relationship between fashion and the human body serves as the driving force behind her design language, which centers on the formation of identity and the fluid nature of interpersonal connections. Yaqi‘s design language embraces contradiction, fragmentation, and fragility.
ASHEZ is a New York City-based sustainable fashion brand specializing in interchangeable designs for the bold and confident trailblazers. Founded by Ashlyn Simpson, a Parsons School of Design graduate. She is often inspired by the competing forces of manmade and natural beauties that surround her and stem from her upbringing in Northern California. ASHEZ strives to educate clients on the opposing sides of fashion while showing how brands can function ethically in the industry. Sourcing recycled materials results in one-of-a-kind garments created with zero waste pattern cutting and draping. The interchangeable design techniques allow garments to shapeshift into multiple styles. Giving the client a more versatile and unique wardrobe. Become a fashion trailblazer, and follow @ash.ez on Instagram.
Vico Style
Vico Style is a tech enabled, woman-owned vintage fashion start-up with two brick and mortar stores in Beacon Hill and Harvard Square. Their mission is to help Americans be sustainably bougie on budget by re-closetting vintage fashion pieces that may otherwise end up in landfills or incinerated. Leveraging disparate datasets and technology, they deliver vintage fashion subscriptions. To learn more about Vico Style, visit www.vico.style.
Yingying Chen is a multifaceted designer, artist, and photographer with a passion for exploring the intersection of design and technology. She graduated from Parsons, Fashion Design with a minor in Photography. Yingying‘s interests and skills extend far beyond traditional fashion design. She is an accomplished metal smith and accessory maker, with a talent for digital modeling and CG animation. Her photography skills are also impressive, with a keen eye for capturing unique perspectives and telling visual stories. What sets Yingying apart as a designer is her commitment to innovation and the use of multi-media to express her ideas. She sees fashion as an ever-evolving art form that must embrace technology to stay relevant and push boundaries. At the same time, she has a deep respect for tradition and is inspired by the history and craftsmanship that underpin the industry. As she embarks on her career, Yingying hopes to continue exploring new ways to blend design and technology in her work. She is excited to be part of a generation of designers who are pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the world of fashion, and she looks forward to creating designs that will inspire and delight audiences for years to come.
Allison Duckman is a Toronto-born knitwear designer, based in New York. Allison graduated from Parsons School of Design in 2023, where she studied Fashion Design, focusing on knitwear. In the Spring of 2022, she studied abroad at Central Saint Martins in the knitwear design program. Her philosophy centers around instilling joy, and wonder in others, particularly reminiscent of childhood memories. Allison pulls from children's toys, books, and craft supplies, as the source of inspiration for most collections. Her fascination with scale is also a key element in her design approach. She often uses natural fibers and unique objects to crochet, hand knit, and knit up garments on her domestic machine and the Dubied machine. Allison's dedication to her craft and her imaginative approach to design results in playful and enchanting collections.
The Attic Cambridge opened its doors in May 2023, providing quality and affordable vintage clothing and accessories in Harvard Square. This was followed by our sister store, The Attic Brooklyn’s opening in October 2019. The stores are run by two sisters, Jenna and Cori Cea-Curry, who have had an interest in secondhand fashion together growing up. They both find joy in discovering one-of-a-kind pieces and passing them on to their customers, while also combating fast-fashion by promoting sustainability.
Meng Ling Chung is a fashion designer specializing in luxury bespoke clothing. With over several years in the industry, she’s honed my craft to perfection, catering to clients who seek nothing but the finest in sartorial elegance. From exquisite handcrafted details to personalized fittings, she takes pride in creating one-of-a-kind pieces that reflect the unique style and personality of each individual. Whether it’s a couture gown for a red-carpet event or a bespoke suit for a special occasion, her dedication to craftsmanship and attention to detail ensures an unparalleled level of quality and sophistication. She brings sartorial dreams to life with her expertise in haute couture and exquisite tailoring.
Neyhartaylor is an experimental brand. As a designer, she views clothing as an interesting resource and tool for self identity. It is important for her now as she begins building her brand that she explores different materials, methods, practices, and designs. Overall, clothing is multiple different things to different people and Neyhartaylor, as a brand, seeks to actualize what these vague and different concepts look like.
Sia Fang (b. 1999, Suzhou, China) is a multidisciplinary artist from China with a global presence spanning New York, Shanghai, and Paris. With a strong background in installation and wearable art, Fang has established herself as a trailblazer in sculpture and textiles. An experimental approach to materials characterizes her work. She has successfully incorporated unconventional elements, such as scrapped porcelain, expired pills, and resin, into her work. Fang has built an impressive portfolio of work including sculptures featured across New York, Paris, Shanghai and LA covered in ELLE USA, Vogue China, Marie Claire USA, Schön and many others. Her multidisciplinary expertise enables her to seamlessly blend different fields of art, creating a truly unique and captivating visual experience for her audience. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for innovation, Fang has earned a reputation as a visionary artist who pushes the boundaries of disciplines, cultures, and material innovations. Her work is a testament to her exceptional talent and dedication to the craft, and she continues to inspire and captivate audiences worldwide with her sensational artistic expressions.
TAO: "Syn-biomorph" is a self-invented word. It could mean a structure or form that combines multiple living organisms or biological elements. It could also refer to a hybrid organism created through synthetic techniques.My project aims to reinterpret Biomorphism in a sci-fi aesthetic that I am deeply passionate about, drawing inspiration from Donna Haraway's A Cyborg Manifesto and Simians, Cyborgs & Women – The Reinvention of Nature.Haraway's work has been instrumental in shaping my understanding of the "cyborg" as an entity that blurs the lines between human and animal, organism and machine, natural and unnatural. This hybrid form incites a yearning to create something that combines contradicting visual aspects using unconventional materials, ultimately pushing the boundaries of what we perceive as fashion.In my research, I delved into the world of Biomorphism art, with a particular focus on the sculptures of Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi's art represents a synthesis of Eastern spatial aesthetics and the modern rationality of the West, creating a harmonious blend of organic forms and industrial materials. I am especially drawn to the way Noguchi expertly crafts stones of varying dimensions, evoking a sense of fluidity and movement that translates well into fashion.