Walking into SCAD Fashion 2024’s graduate show, you could feel the excitement in the air. After witnessing the days of preparation and rehearsals leading up to the show, I myself was buzzing before I even entered the SCAD Museum of Art. As guests arrived and made their way to their seats in the museum’s courtyard, the anticipation only grew. Industry guests mingled with former colleagues, current SCAD faculty, and the students in attendance. Braving high heat, even higher humidity, and interspersed bouts of rain, nothing was going to keep us from seeing the student work walk that runway.
As the lights began to flash above our heads, we found our seats and settled into the faint hum of eagerness (and anxiety coming from the student designer section.) The night commenced with the fashion film, “Déjà Rêvé”. Under the direction of SCAD alumni Paris Mumpower, the film followed Lexi, played by Rainey Qualley, as she recounted a recurring dream filled with fantastical designs in a panicked journey to the show. The film was a cheeky, imaginative, and beautiful showcase of student designers and models.
Having witnessed SCAD Savannah’s jury weekend where each student designer presented their work to a group of industry judges who ultimately selected the final list of students to be featured in the show, I was particularly excited to see work from the students who would not be in the show itself. Throughout the jury and critique process, I was left in awe of the monumental prowess that this year’s graduating class possesses. In what I can imagine was the most competitive jury process to date at SCAD, only 40 students across the Savannah and Atlanta campuses were selected to be in the runway show.
As the models embarked down the runway with walks coached by Coco Rocha, each collection shined. I was struck by how different each student’s work was, every collection told it’s own story and embodied the designers as individuals. Though each designer’s journey to the show looked different, this graduate class was tied together by a shared perseverance and push towards a brighter future.
For many of the graduates, the end of their high school careers and beginning of their undergraduate studies took place on the screens of their laptops. Already being a part of a generation of digital natives, the virtual nature of their lives was exacerbated by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As society seems to make a collective push for digital experiences exploring opportunities within the metaverse or utilizing artificial intelligence, SCAD’s 2024 graduating fashion students seemed far more interested in the tactile. Though some collections, like Bailey Musnicki’s “AI Versus the Artist” directly explored such themes, this interest in the physical was evident throughout the show. There seemed to be a shared interest in exploring and experimenting with texture, which was executed masterfully.
Alexa Wexler’s opening looks included an oversized shaggy coat, crocodile leather chestplate, and hand painted fringe. Sammy Baker’s “Monster in You” utilized patchwork and a strong understanding of fibers to combine textures for fantastical pieces and silhouettes. Each designer engaged the sense of touch almost on par with the use of sight, with knitwear being an especially prominent and impressive theme throughout the show. Each designer’s individual use of materials and unique vision for construction contributed to a show of looks that were fun to look at, but seemed to be even more fun to wear. Largely unbothered by practicality, wearability, or commerciality, the designs from SCAD Fashion 2024 drew you in with their inventiveness and tactile expressions of self.
As a journalist and admirer of art, I am always curious to hear the story and intentions behind works of art and fashion. Each student channeled their personal experiences, from grief and abuse, to coming into their own in a time of deep unrest and uncertainty for the future, into something truly impeccable. As this cohort of designers enters the industry, I’m left with an uplifting and renewed sense of hope. As our lives are pushed further into our screens, these designers proved that nothing can truly compare to or compete with the tangible and touchable. In a time where the industry feels increasingly commercial, SCAD’s graduating students inspire an inventiveness that will no doubt extend past the runway and into the everyday.
Words by Flora Medina.
Photography by Abigail Wornock.