Moore Fashion Design majors Ashleen Castillo '20 and Destiny Garner '19 will show garments from their senior collections September 7, 2019, during New York Fashion Week.
Castillo and Garner were honored with the New York Fashion Week award at the S/S 2019 Fashion Show presented by Century 21 Stores, held May 17 at The Barnes Foundation. This brand-new award was sponsored by Global Design Feature, which provides an international platform for college fashion students or recent graduates to showcase during NYFW and other fashion capitals across the globe.
"New York Fashion Week is a big blessing and a dream come true," said Castillo. "I feel so honored to be chosen to represent my fashion community at Moore, our school, professors, mentors and my country."
"I am very excited and eager to show my work as a young designer," Garner said. "I get to showcase something I've studied, designed and created. It's a great feeling."
Garner and Castillo will each present four looks on the runway. Garner's genderless collection, called Black Unicorns, is inspired by the masculine and feminine identities. She said she wanted to create a conversation with her garments, and had male models wear dresses for the spring fashion show.
"I wanted to show both traits, and for this collection I looked for pieces that represent masculinity, and for that I found leather, denim and fleece," she said. "For femininity, I focused more on the silhouettes of the garments rather than the actual fabric."
Castillo's collection, titled De-Transformación, is about transitions and sustainability. Castillo transferred to Moore after her fashion design school in Puerto Rico was destroyed by Hurricane Maria in September 2017.
"My visual inspiration is the hermit crab, because it's a metaphor of how we transition in life," she said, noting that the crab re-uses shells from other animals as it grows. Her garments, in peaches, oranges and pale blues, feature a shell motif, and the quick pull of a zipper transforms the garments to a new look.
"(New York Fashion Week) is a great opportunity for them to meet people and to put this in their portfolios," said Nasheli Ortiz-González, chair and associate professor of the Fashion Design and Textile Department. "Fashion is a business of connections. That is important for them."
Garner and Castillo will share the runway with young designers from Lindenwood University and Stephens College.
To see more of Castillo's work, click here; see more of Garner's work here, and on Instagram here.
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