At SCAD, the Class of 2023 Takes an Autobiographical Approach to Fashion

SCAD class of 2023.
SCAD, class of 2023.Courtesy of SCAD

To be a fashion designer is to wear multiple hats. A designer should be an anthropologist and study culture in order to understand what people want now, a historian to figure out why people want what they want, and an analyst to project and predict what people will want. To study fashion design is an equally complicated and contradictory pursuit: How does one explore the boundaries of their own creativity while simultaneously learning its limitations? 

This dichotomy was on full display at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) this weekend as the university staged its annual fashion show, this time at the Atlanta campus. While every class of students is distinct and each of their collections offers a time capsule of the world we’re living in, this particular cohort is unique. They spent most of their time in school amidst the pandemic—they were just over halfway through their freshman year when restrictions began in 2020, effectively taking them away from studios and classrooms and confining them to their bedrooms. 

“Perhaps not surprisingly, the pandemic made many students look inward for inspiration,” said Dirk Standen, the dean of the SCAD School of Fashion. “These collections are often deeply autobiographical.” While fashion is preoccupied with speaking to this same Gen Z cohort through celebrity partnerships, viral TikTok micro-trends, and influencers, these newly christened fashion designers are earnestly speaking to each other through their own personal narratives. A visit to the school and conversations with this graduating class over the course of one weekend earlier this month offered insight into the themes circulating in these students’ minds: abortion rights, masculinity, the environment, the future (both their own and the planet’s), technology, love, and identity. 

Garren Hayes, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Maliki Gilbert, SCAD class of 2023.Mathias Hungler / Courtesy of SCAD
Rainey Lowery, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD

Kate Assimus presented a lineup of three looks from her Abortion Barbie collection, which she created in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. With a dress made from interlocking blood-red-stained white briefs, she cleverly merged her generation’s enthusiasm for body-con silhouettes with a resounding statement on reproductive rights today. Along similar lines was Garren Hayes’s exploration of masculinity: With pieces such as cagelike corsets or a classic white tank top transforming into a lace blouse, he offered a nuanced take on what manliness and menswear can mean in 2023. 

Daniel Phillips, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Bryony Umfreville, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Anyssa Merlini, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Torrion Reed, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD

Daniel Phillips explored their own sexuality and gender fluidity while nodding to their family’s history of motorcycle racing: Their combination of repurposed biker leathers and silhouettes cut in gender-expansive designs offered a unique take on a familiar design trope. Ditto Byrony Umfreville’s menswear collection subverted the on-deck uniform worn by her grandfather, who was in the Navy, and her father, who loves fishing. Anyssa Merlini, president of SCAD’s Slow Fashion Club, also employed preexisting fabrics. She used them to explore fairy tales and the notion of escaping reality, though her very wearable coats prove she also understands the reality we live in. The same can be said for Jaiwei Yang’s use of existing items of clothing—a skirt-and-bucket-hat combo made of old T-shirts were standouts—and Torrion Reed’s impressive, store-ready denim separates. 

Bennett Moses, SCAD class fo 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Alberto Perkinson, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Darcy Guichon, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Nathan Batra, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD

Elsewhere, Bennett Moses found inspiration in what makes us human—DNA and RNA—creating futuristic blown-up silhouettes in custom chromosome-like fabric. Layla Wan was also looking to the future: Her chromatic sculptural pieces felt just as relevant for today as they were directional for tomorrow. Nathan Batra’s laser-cut, UV-printed fabrics and layered silhouettes combined his past life studying medicine with a technology-friendly fashion future. Malik Gilbert also looked to the body to inform his futuristic POV—an über-realistic bare torso jacket was an impressive display of what imagination can make happen with the right resources in hand.

Hayden Yang, SCAD class of 2023.Mathias Hungler / Courtesy of SCAD
Yuxin Zheng, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Cherry Chen, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD

There was also a lot of craftsmanship and fabric manipulation on display. Standouts included Hayden Yang’s severe but abstract tailored looks, Cherry Chen’s intricate dreamy knits, Yuxin Zheng’s trompe l’oeil and embroidered pinstripe suits, Alberto Perkinson’s aggressively romantic deconstructions, and Stella Scruggs’s tactile silhouettes.

But equally as illuminating as their work are their hopes for the future. From which designers and brands they’d like to work for (Thom Browne, Jonathan Anderson, Peter Do, Emily Bode, Erdem, John Galliano, Off-White), to the careers they’d like to explore outside of design (3D pattern making, textile research, styling), these students are as passionate about the industry as they are excited to mold it to their own aspirations. “What I’m seeing now from the students is a fervor for personal identity and expression,” said Paula Wallace, SCAD President and Founder, “SCAD Fashion is what’s next, and it’s right now!” 

Jaiwei Yang, SCAD class of 2023.Ryo Sato / Courtesy of SCAD
Layla Wan, SCAD class of 2023.Mathias Hungler / Courtesy of SCAD
Wenqi Sun, SCAD class of 2023.Mathias Hungler / Courtesy of SCAD
Cherry Ip, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Barrett Winters, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Tristin Taylor, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Cassie Dean, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD
Megan Smith, SCAD class of 2023.Aman Shakya / Courtesy of SCAD