Delicate beadwork, plant-stuffed plastic jackets and dangling threads flowed down the runway at Parsons School of Design's graduate show in New York this week, where collections with intricate details were among US reporter Bridget Cogley's highlights.
The fashion show took place at Spring Studios in New York City's Tribeca neighbourhood on Wednesday 4 September, to preempt with the start of New York Fashion Week today.
It comprised 12 student collections as a culmination of Parsons' masters of fine art degree in Fashion, Design & Society. Material clashes, dangling beads, stitching and splashes of nudity were prominent through a number of college students' body of works. Pops of orange, green and blue were also common.
Here are eight standout collections from the fashion show:
Bugs Garson
Bugs Garson, also known as Aideen Gaynor, presented a collection of womenswear and menswear pieces including tailored jackets, skirts and dresses dripping with beads and threads.
Born in Brooklyn and raised in Dublin, the designer crafted the looks drawing from letters written by her grandparents in 1948. The student was not afraid to use colour and opted for subtle floral designs with shades of sky blue, orange, teal and soft pink.
Meg Calloway
Ribbons, tassels and threads characterised designed by Meg Calloway, whose claims her pieces are "intuitive" and "uninhibited by traditional forms of construction". Most were black with pops of pink and white used to create a unified collection.
Calloway took inspiration from textile designer William Morris' flowers, late musician David Bowie and studies of rebellion to create several dresses and suited outfits. Bare legs and arms were a focal point, as well as chests exposed with masculine jackets.
Sho Konishi
Otherworldly designs by Sho Konishi fused earthy details with clear plastic jackets and face masks. He created several coats with tiny pockets storing flowers, spices, feathers and pine trees.
Konishi, who was previously a student in Paris and Tokyo, sees fashion as a "tangible representation of human existence" and uses clothing "to design life". References to recycling and the earth were carried throughout the pieces.
Hualei Lu
The Beatles' Abbey Road, music from Pink Floyd and Montreal's 1969 bed sit-in with Yoko Ono and John Lennon were the prompts for Hualei Lu's fashion collection.
Raised in China, she creates clothes that embody her time as a child trying to follow the rules and making mistakes. The collection is about misunderstanding and irony, with designs that play on the differences between language and words. Among the pieces is a delicate white coat printed with a rock album.
Zill-e-Huma
Floral beading, pops of orange, red gingham and clear plastic are used in the diverse body of work by Zill-e-Huma Maqbool. The collection is a reflection of her memories growing up in a small village in Pakistan, mixed with three women she befriended in New York – a pole dancer, a write and a police officer. This fusion is a commentary on personal growth and life's surprises.
"My experience of moving to New York as a 30-year old Pakistani woman, while navigating the clash of these two distinct cultures, has massively shaped my understanding around sexuality, freedom and desire," she said. "I now feel more at home in a city so far away from what was familiar for a majority of my life."
Tara Babylon
Playful, dramatic and colourful, the pieces by the Arabian-British fashion designer Tara Babylon teamed carpets, fluffy fabrics, woven details and coat hangers. Designs also heavily showcased plaid with bright blue, orange, lime green and mustard colours.
She is inspired by collages, silhouettes and dancing, with fabric playing a key role in movement. She also likens her designs to "craft couture with hard glamour", and the pieces are for bodies that "do not identify as gender-specific".
Evian Li
This series of formalwear contrasts heavy knits and see-through bits that reveal body parts. Designed by Evian Li, the clothes are mainly black and white but come in a range of fabrics.
Li is from southern China and specialises in womenswear knitwear. Knitting, for Li, represents memories that are often unclear, screen printing conveys memories that are slightly clearer, and ceramics are pure memory – "solid and tangible, yet precious and fragile".
Yong Guo
Navy, white, black and red are used by Chinese designer Yong Guo for this body of work. Long skirts and draping pants feature alongside free-flowing bits of fabric, stripes, transparent chunks and woven details.
Guo draws inspiration from his mother and her experience battling cancer for his collection, called Imperfect Perfection. The pieces emanate movement through a fusion of minimal, delicate and yet also rigid details.
Photography is by Monica Feudi.