Otis Fashion Students Design for the Circus
Ariella Seltzer and Christina Ingalls worked together to design a “Crystal Moon” costume for the Night portion of the Otis fashion show.
Graduating fashion students from Otis College of Art and Design have been busy preparing for their final year-end project – completing construction of a garment from start to finish under the guidance of Otis faculty and a professional design mentor.
The students have been researching, sketching, draping and sewing their costumes to prepare for the Otis fundraiser and fashion show on May 5 at the Beverly Hilton.
Last week, the students met with Cirque du Soleil costume designer Dominique Lemieux to receive feedback on their creations. Lemieux’s students were charged with designing costumes inspired by crystals and the lost city of Atlantis. Each designer was assigned a different stone based on a color palette. The outfit also had to fit within one of the individual themes of the show: Night, Fire, Shadows and Fear, Water or Sunrise Celebration and Rebirth.
Meeting with Lemieux and having Cirque du Soleil performers available in person to try on the costumes gives the students a chance to see firsthand what is working with the design and what needs improvement.
Many student designers struggle with translating the details they have captured in their illustrations to the physical costume, but this was not their only challenge, Lemieux said.
“The hardest thing is to make the crystal come to life,” she said.
The mentorship program was developed by Otis Fashion Design Chair Rose Brantley and is core to the school’s competitive fashion design program. The mentors for this year’s senior class include Lemieux, Michael Maccari of Armani Exchange, David Meister and designers from Morgane Le Fay and StudioMax. The Junior class has been working under the direction of designers from Nike, Anthropologie and Stewart+Brown, as well as Todd Oldham, Red Carter and Rod Beattie.
