Judgment day

How designs are selected for the Future of Fashion show

Graduating Fashion Design BFA students worked all semester to create original designs that they hoped would be chosen for the Future of Fashion show in May. Of the 200 garments, just 90 made it onto the runway. Hue investigated the winnowing process.

Five of the six judges were from the fashion media: Alana Kelen, Fashion Merchandising Management ’00, senior fashion stylist at MTV Networks; Lilliana Vazquez, a TV personality and style expert; author, editor, and columnist Kate Betts; blogger Bryan Grey-Yambao, better known as BryanBoy; and Kristen Shirley, assistant fashion editor at ELLE. The retail perspective was represented by Colleen Sherin, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue.

“We make sure the student experience is as real as it can possibly be—and as objective,” Joanne Arbuckle, dean for the School of Art and Design, said. “The faculty develop relationships with the students, but the judges are simply looking at the clothes.”

The garments were arranged in FIT’s Great Hall; the room was dead silent as the judges made their way independently through the rows of dress forms, carefully examining each work. Colette Wong, Fashion Design chair, said they knew what to look for: “Is the concept ‘now’ and edgy? Is the piece well constructed? Is it runway-ready? Is it wearable and creative?” Though they kept their score sheets private, their choices were remarkably consistent.

Cotton Incorporated, which (along with a gift from Calvin Klein and the company he founded) helps fund the show, sends its own team of judges to select three winners among garments made with at least 65 percent cotton. Also, for the first time, the editor in chief of Siempre Mujer magazine, María Cristina Marrero, scrutinized the looks and chose the design with the best use of color. Afterward, the Great Hall was opened to the public, a new tradition to allow students, families, and others to celebrate the designers whose work made it to judging day.

The judges came away seriously impressed. Vazquez, for example, pointed to a dress and said she wanted to wear it to the Golden Globes. And Kelen said she was ready to dress VH1 talent in the garments.

“I thought it was our best show yet,” Arbuckle said, “but it always has to be.”

visit fitnyc.edu/futureoffashion to see the winning designs and video of the show.

Photos by Lorenzo Ciniglio

Top: Judging garments in the Great Hall. From left to right: Kelen, Sherin, Vazquez, Betts, and Grey-Yambao.