Every year, apparel design and merchandising students get the opportunity to display some of the pieces they’ve been working on. Whether an entire collection or a perfectly-styled single piece, the students get to see their work on the runway at Showcase.
The Collective’s own Jaidyn Toomey is one of those students, and she will be debuting a dress she designed and created during the pre-show.
Jaidyn has always been a creative mind. “From a young age, I have always loved fashion, and I always wanted to pick out my outfits,” she said. “I was a Justice girl!”
She has many hobbies, though, so deciding what to do in college was difficult. When I asked her how she narrowed it down, she told me, “a wise person once said, pick your top three favorite things, and make your career your second.”
When designing her piece, Jaidyn used several creative processes, namely sketching and moodboard-making.
“I love sketching, so I kind of had an idea for the basic silhouette of the dress,” she said. “And the moodboard almost came second.”
Jaidyn explained that a pretty common conundrum for Apparel Design students is what to do with the garment once they’re done. Her solution is simple: “I picked a model with similar measurements to me, so I could wear the dress after!”
Jaidyn’s piece in the pre-show is a “show-stopping, corporate punk” dress.
“I really wanted to reflect the current trend of, like, corporate business wear,” she said. “But I also wanted to give it a fun subversive edge.”
When I asked her what she hopes people think when they see her garment, Jaidyn said she wants people to be surprised.
“I want this dress to really be a moment to kind of prove myself. Like, I’m meant to be here! I have lots of cool, fashion-forward ideas! I want people to be like ‘I wanna wear that!’”
One of Jaidyn’s favorite designers, the late Vivienne Westwood, was also a huge inspiration when designing this piece: “She really brought the punk scene into high fashion, and she was also a major human rights advocate, which I really admire.”
When speaking with Jaidyn, it was clear almost immediately where her true passions lie. A gender and women’s studies minor, Jaidyn is extremely passionate about human rights.
“I really want to be the driving force of major social, economic and environmental change in the fashion industry,” she said. When I first started, I thought I wanted to start my own sustainable fashion business, but as I’ve progressed, I realized that as a business, you are always going to be taking.”
Instead, Jaidyn wants to continue styling, as she has been doing for The Collective over the past few years. “I’d like to work to create a magazine that highlights sustainable creators, and also the people who have been historically left out of high fashion.”
If you know Jaidyn in any capacity, you know her attention to detail and work ethic is unmatched. She is always trying to make things better than they are, to highlight the many marginalized voices in fashion, to know and understand those with different experiences than her own. Through her Showcase piece, and subsequent pieces, Jaidyn hopes to lift up those around her, to highlight the subversive and create real, tangible change in the fashion industry.
コメント