Meet the 2014 University of Texas Fashion Designers
The University of Texas senior class of fashion designers will take to the Erwin Center runway for another magical night of fun, amazing fashion designs and a LIVE television broadcast by The Longhorn Network. There is no excuse for you not to attend the show if you are a fashion fan, the show is free so come show your support of the fabulous Austin Fashion Community. And be sure to smile for our cameras! Fashionably Austin is the “Official” Photography for Austin Fashion Week.
Doors open at 5:30 pm ~ Fashion Alley Immersed in Cotton Room 5:30 pm Fashion Show at 7:15 pm
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Name: Jenny Tavarez
Collection Name: Vital Enigma
Major: Textiles and Apparel
Hometown: Fort Stockton
Inspiration for the Collection: Architecture, Travel,
Plans after graduation: Get some expire nice in draping and maybe even costume design.
Favorite Designer: Zuhair Murad
Favorite Junk Food: Pizza
Something that makes me unique: I love to drape and make patterns. I usually like to design things that have a lot of pieces.
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Name: Anne Elizabeth Lawrence
Collection Name: ‘Grown Woman’
Major:Textile and Apparel Design | Business Foundations
Hometown: Richardson, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: African American Women in Politics: Michelle Obama and fictional character Olivia Pope
Plans after graduation: Start my career in bridal or evening wear design in NYC
Favorite Designer: Naeem Khan, Monique Lhuillier, Elie Saab
Favorite Junk Food: Reeses peanut butter cups!
Something that makes me unique: I play the trombone in the Longhorn Band!
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Name: Wendy Ji
Collection Name: Élevée
Major: Textiles and Apparel Design
Hometown: Beijing, China
Inspiration for the Collection: Iceland
Plans after graduation: A couple of internships and then probably graduate school!
Favorite Designer: Vionnet
Favorite Junk Food: Hot Cheetos with Lime
Something that makes me unique: I love to sail! For the past four years, I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy recreational sailing both in Austin and down at the Texas coast!
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Name: Elizabeth “Lizzie” Stratton
Collection Name: Wildflowers and Watercolors
Major: Textiles & Apparel, Apparel Design
Hometown: After living in IN, KY, MS and most recently Laredo, TX, Austin is always where I feel most at home.
Inspiration for the Collection: The artist in me has always loved creating my own textiles so when it came time for my senior collection, I couldn’t resist. I chose to “ice dye” white silk chiffon to create a watercolor print. The colors were inspired by the color of the year, radiant orchid, and the beautiful blue bonnets blooming all over Texas. I was also inspired, strangely enough, by the Austin city bag ban to create a collection of grocery-esque black leather bags.
Plans after graduation: Right now I am unsure of my plans post-graduation. Once the fashion show is over, I plan to work on building my portfolio and hit the job search head on!
Favorite Designer: Alexander McQueen
Favorite Junk Food: Chips and Queso! Always a diet breaker!
Something that makes me unique: I have a huge heart for animals, especially bunnies! I volunteer at a rabbit shelter once a week and have adopted two of my own, Ophelia and Hambone.
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Name: Derly Omar Gonzalez
Collection Name: South Asian Divination
Major: Textiles and Apparel:Design, Anthropology
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: India, magic, religious iconography,
Plans after graduation: move to Seattle, WA and also start my etsy shop with some of my designs
Favorite Designer: Issey Miyake and Alexander McQueen
Favorite Junk Food: sour gummy worms
Something that makes me unique: my crazy mohawk that changes colors every season
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Name: Michelle Nokeo Twite
Collection Name: Balance in Chaos
Major: Apparel Design and Business Foundations
Hometown: Amarillo, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: My fascination with musk oxen and the everyday life of a power woman.
Plans after graduation: I will be staying in Austin and working towards contributing to the growing Austin Fashion Industry.
Favorite Designer: Preen by Thornton Bregazzi
Favorite Junk Food: Snocones
Something that makes me unique: I’m a first generation American.
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Name: Alexandra Kelly
Collection Name: Resort to Rio
Major: Textiles and Apparel Design
Hometown: Austin, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: After visiting Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on a Semester at Sea, I was inspired by Rio’s sprawling and modern city, surrounded by beautiful beaches, and nature. In my collection, I use bright floral silks with pink, orange and lime, and pair them with classics such as black and white stripes, or a gray blazer.
Plans after graduation: I plan to travel over the summer, and then move someplace cool to look for a job!
Favorite Designer: I’ve loving Trina Turk right now.
Favorite Junk Food: Pizza
Something that makes me unique: I can be inspired by almost anything! My bridal gown was initially inspired by the sheer drapes that surround Daisy in her opening scene of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.
Name: Shari Sims
Collection Name: Nox Aeterna
Major: Textile and Apparel in Design
Hometown: Born in Gatesville, TX. Lives in Austin, TX.
Inspiration for the Collection: Post-Apocalyptic, Mythology, Futuristic, Sci-fi, Gothic Romance, Victorian,
Alice in Wonderland.
Plans after graduation: Build my portfolio and making plans to move to Dallas.
Favorite Designer: H.Naoto, Issey Miyake, Mana, Yohji Yamamoto, Alexander McQueen.
Favorite Junk Food: Yogurt.
Something that makes me unique: My hobby is sewing costumes and cosplay in my free time and
teaching others to sew as well.
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Name: Haleigh Clark
Collection Name: Ivy
Major: Textiles and Apparel Design
Hometown: Austin, TX
Inspiration for the collection: Men’s and women’s classic Ivy League style updated for the modern woman
Plans after graduation: I am interning with Milly in New York in the fall, and I’m hoping to stay in the city after that working as a designer or technical designer
Favorite Designer: Ralph Lauren
Favorite Junk Food: Donuts!
Something that makes me unique: I have a twin sister
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Name: Anna Lawson
Collection Name: Under the Big Top
Major: Textiles and Apparel: Design
Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Inspiration for the Collection: My favorite movie, Water for Elephants
Plans after graduation: Moving to New York City
Favorite Designer: Dolce and Gabbana
Favorite Junk Food: Anything chocolate, or ice cream!
Something that makes me unique: My personal style. My hair is definitely
part of my style as well. And a little fun fact is I don’t own a hair brush!
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Name: Ronit Joselevitz
Collection Name: Ciudadela
Major: Plan II and Textiles and Apparel Design
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Inspiration for the Collection: Mexico City
Plans after graduation: I plan to move to Mexico City for a year and work for a designer there and then go to New York for a MA in fashion design.
Favorite Designer: Proenza Schouler
Favorite Junk Food: Ice Cream
Something that makes me unique: My appreciation for other subjects outside of fashion that allow me to draw inspiration for my designs
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Name: Haley Royal
Collection Name: Golden Rule
Major: Apparel Design
Hometown: Dallas, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: Victorian period and Baroque architecture
Plans after graduation: Interning in Los Angeles
Favorite Designer: CoCo Chanel
Favorite Junk Food: Graham crackers
Something that makes me unique: I am 6’0″
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Name: Molly Empey
Name of Collection: Polluted
Major: Textile and Apparel Design
Hometown: Galveston, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: Inspired by current events
Plans after graduation: I plan on moving to New York and work on breaking into the fashion industry.
Favorite Junk Food: Coffee ice cream
Something that makes me unique: I became a certified scuba diver at the age of twelve and was convinced I would become a professional ballerina until I broke my leg during sophomore year of high school.
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Name: Ashley Isokpehi
Collection Name: Geometric Gold
Major: Apparel Design/ Business Foundations
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Inspiration for the Collection: Regal Architecture and Contemporary Art pieces.
Plans after graduation: Begin the foundations of my own design house while simultaneously
Favorite Designer: Stephane Rolland
Favorite Junk Food: Cotton Candy
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Name: Mercedes Contreras
Collection Name: The More Wool Power, The Better
Major: Apparel Design
Hometown: San Antonio, Texas
Inspiration for the Collection: The collection is a fall collection for Plus Size women. It is ready to wear business attire.
Plans after graduation: I want to work for local designers to see how a business is run locally as well as work at a high end boutique. All this is to see the ins and outs of owning your own store, which is my ultimate goal in life.
Favorite Designer: DVF
Favorite Junk Food: chamoy raspas
Something that makes me unique: I’m the remember seeing my mother work as a seamstress and would often go with her to work. That is where I actually feel in love with sewing, and since I was was not able to use her machine I hand stitched everything. I’ve been sewing since I was 8!
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Name: Natalie Poche
Collection Name: Mechanistic Vision
Major: Textile and Apparel Design
Hometown: Leander, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: The collection I have created was inspired by Bauhaus, a German art movement in the 20s that focused on modernism and geometric shapes. I was veryinspired by this and literally how strange things are. What resonated with me the most was going back to simplicity.
Plans after graduation: Land an internship at a design company and pack up all my things and move to New York City!
Favorite Designer: Helmut Lang
Favorite Junk Food: Chips and Queso
Something that makes me unique: I love to create my own digital textile prints using photos I’ve taken. I love to find something as random as a curb on a street and turn it into a textile that is unique and wearable.
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Name: Tilde Snyder
Collection Name: TRILLDE
Major: Textiles and Apparel design
Hometown: Reading, PA
Inspiration for the Collection: pastel and digital collage from vintage magazines and recipe books
Plans after graduation: collaborating on mini digital print collections with illustrator and artist friends
Favorite Designer: Russian Futurists
Favorite Junk Food: #25 with a side of gravy after late nights in sewing in the lab
Something that makes me unique: I’ve lived on a sailboat.
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Name: Jordan Jennings
Collection Name: Blush
Major: Apparel Design
Hometown: Arlington, TX
Inspiration for the Collection: Vintage lingerie, lingerie-inspired evening wear.
Plans after graduation: Work as a designer in New York City! I also want to travel as much as possible.
Favorite Designer: Christian Dior
Favorite Junk Food: French Fries and iced coffee!
Something that makes me unique: I have an extremely fat cat named Oliver.
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Name: Kelsey Chatman[break]
Name: Ellese Castillo
Name: Madeline Hart
Name: Katie Fagan
Name: Fei Xie
Looks like an amazing event, congratulations to all these fabulous fashion students https://www.santafefashionweek.com