MICA’S Experimental Fashion Event Explores the Center

Karryl Eugene, Topic of Discussion. Image: MICA

Topic of Discussion by Karryl Eugene is one of the design collections by one of the Maryland Institute College of Art Fiber students to feature at the experimental fashion event

FASHION

Maryland Institute College of Art Fiber students explore performance, dance, puppetry, costume, sculpture, and ready-to-wear fashion in an experimental fashion event.

BY ARTCENTRON

BALTIMORE, MD- The intersection between fashion, costume, and sculpture is at the heart of Mezzo, an experimental fashion event produced by Fiber students at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) to be held on April 21 at the Baltimore War Memorial Building. The annual experimental fashion event mixes performance, dance, puppetry, costume, sculpture, and ready-to-wear fashion in a runway-style showcase.

Experimental Fashion Event and Art

The experimental fashion event is the result of a yearlong Multimedia Event course at the institute. The annual runway-style showcase of student-designed fashions presents fashion loves with how students are adapting their knowledge and understanding of fashion, art, and new influences in their works.

The theme for this year’s experimental Fashion event is Mezzo. Mezzo, according to the organizers of the show represents “half,” “middle” or “medium.” The word also signifies threshold such as mezzanine, the lowest balcony of a theater, or a mezzo-soprano, a vocalist pitched between a soprano and a contralto.”

Mezzo will feature collections by 12 designers, who explore not just the intersection of art and fashion but also the transition between two fixed points or ideas. They explore the liminal space, the gray area of familiar concepts that allow for the intersection of a confluence of ideas.

Amanda Elie’s Moitié Kreole

Amanda Elie, Moitié Kreole. Image: MICA

One of the young designers whose collection will excite fashion fans is Amanda Elie. Amanda’s fashion line is Moitié Kreole. The artist explores her identity as a half-Haitian and half-Puerto Rican woman to create wearable art. Amanda uses powerful silhouettes, bold colors, and graphic linework to highlight her cultural heritage. Also expected to thrill fashion fans at the event is Get Home Safe by Grayson Gross. Grayson explores sexuality and gender (particularly femininity) through the lens of retro-futuristic costumes, which are inspired by 1950s sci-fi, pulp novels, and comics about women.

Charlie Rincon-Rodriguez is another designer to watch during this important fashion event. Charlie’s fashion line is Avila, a name inspired by a mountain in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, his hometown. Charlie’s collection is inspired by the natural and national symbols of the city, Venezuelan artists Carlos Cruz-Diez and Jesus Rafael Soto. Other influences include post-Perez-Jimenez architecture and the Latina women who he grew up with and continues to influence his creations.

Desire and Sexuality

Breanna Marinaccio is another designer to watch during the fashion event. Her collection The Death of Venus addresses issues of gender and sexuality. It encourages female empowerment by rejecting the goddess of love, desire, and sexuality, as well as the standards of beauty associated with Venus. Incorporating handmade rope and weaving, the garments symbolize women bound by social expectations.

Other participating designers include Courtney Banh, Claire Cho, Alexandra Ciardullo, Marina Constantine, and Margaret Garrison. Others include Grayson Gross, Clarissa Iskandar, Stevie Pnewski, and Emily Wolfe.

The annual experimental fashion event developed out of MICA Fiber faculty Laure Drogoul’s Multimedia Event course. For the course, students spend two semesters working together to conceptualize and plan all aspects of producing a full-scale fashion event, including runway construction, custom lighting design, and managing over 200 models, volunteers, and staff who make the show possible.