KAEUN & WILLA
Photography by Noah Bogusz and Silka Houghton
Kaeun forms aluminum mesh and vinyl tubing to create her dress for Fashion of Rochester in the Jewelry and Metals Studio at Rochester Institute of Technology on Oct. 11.
Fashion Week of Rochester presents a huge opportunity for new designers to showcase their work. Fourteen students in RIT’s School of American Crafts including Kaeun Jang and Willa Cassidy-Gardner designed, built and modeled pieces that utilized unique materials from aluminum mesh and vinyl tubing to tulle and safety pins.
Kaeun explains her personal project creating brooches out of spring roll paper and epoxy on Sept. 20, 2018.
Kaeun waits in line during a dress rehearsal for Fashion Week of Rochester on Sept. 27.
Kaeun struggles to tie the vinyl tubes that hold her dress up before a rehearsal for Fashion Week of Rochester on Sept. 27.
Willa is a second year jewelry graduate student. For her fashion week piece she decided to push her comfort zone and work with a pre-made product that is used everyday.
Cassidy was inspired by the curving shape of boats and the Victoria Secret angle wings.The fabric was attached with the safety pins and then decorated with them in a fading pattern. The weight of the safety pins caused the back piece to eventually break the weekend before the show. “I came in on Thursday (October 4, 2018) and the piece was hanging funny. When I realized that it had broken I had no idea what to do”
SAC students Zak Hunt, Shelly Tyo, Willa Cassidy-Gardner, Hyung Ji, Suyu Chen and Kaeun Jang stand in line to practice walking their designs on their makeshift runway in Booth Hall at Rochester Institute of Technology, Sept. 27.
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Kaeun gets help with her makeup backstage at Fashion Week of Rochester on Oct. 11.
Willa does her makeup backstage before the show on Oct. 11.
Kaeun showcases her unique design for the fourth consecutive year for Fashion Week of Rochester during the Walk and Roll Show.
