A global mindset is critical to achieving success in today’s fashion industry, and Friday night at The Glasshouse on Manhattan’s West End, LIM students traversed cultural and, in some cases, celestial borders, producing their 81st annual runway show with the theme “Global Fashion Fusion.”
In December, ownership of the New York-based college transitioned from the Marcuse family to the Japan Educational Foundation, so for the first time designs by home-field talent walked the runway alongside those from recent graduates at its new sister school ESMOD France. And greeting parents and faculty at the event’s entrance were televised animated shorts spotlighting a third school in JEF’s portfolio: Mode Gakuen in Japan.
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“This year, we’re really highlighting the alignment of LIM and JEF post acquisition,” said college president Ron Marshall ahead of his opening remarks, “because fashion doesn’t just start in Milan or Paris anymore. It starts in Seoul. It starts in Tokyo. And it starts here in New York.”
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While that might be true, this evening, the fashion started off in space. At about the same time Artemis II was re-entering Earth’s orbit, “Starry Romanticism” kicked off seven segments with student-styled metallic looks from the archives of LIM mentor Nicole Miller. Meanwhile, Amazon, the event’s presenting sponsor, contributed to the second segment “Ballroom Division” before “Apocalyptic Erosion,” featuring work from the LIM student designers.
Backstage, junior Dylan Lippis said he and two friends took a “streetwear approach” for their distressed bomber jacket and shorts, adding “we just wanted our character to look like he was attacked by zombies.”
Design Club director Miranda Martinez, however, was inspired by her source materials: errant scraps of chiffon, net and canvas that she had no use for until receiving this assignment. “I wanted my model to give the idea that she had to scavenge for what she’s wearing because, being in the apocalypse, you have to look for anything you can find,” she said.
Emerging from the doom and gloom, the next two segments, “The New Order” and “After the Ashes” came courtesy of ESMOD France. And one needn’t refer to the run-of-show to see that as the former channeled Marie Antoinette with macaron shades, pearl beading and jacquard throughout, while the latter conjured a more severe image of haute Parisian glamour reminiscent of ’80s Alaïa or Mugler.
According to LIM senior vice president and chief growth officer Danielle Yannotta, “having ESMOD France here taking part really elevates everything to an entirely new level.”
Founded in 1841, ESMOD is the world’s oldest fashion design school, so “we’re taking all of their expertise in design and pairing it up with our LIM students who are more focused on the business of fashion,” said Yannotta. “They’ve executed all of the business elements of the show, from visual to production to music, marketing, you name it.”
To conclude, patchwork denim pieces by Veronica Fletcher for Sonny Michael walked “Heritage and High Fashion,” culminating in “The Art of Elegance” with evening dresses also available on Amazon.
In this segment, cancer survivor Jenna Tomasiewicz donned a pink floor-length ensemble clutching a flower-shaped handbag. Tomasiewicz is a member of the Verma Foundation, LIM’s philanthropic partner for the third consecutive year. Founded by Natasha Verma, the nonprofit provides free caps and wigs to those dealing with hair loss as a result of chemotherapy treatment.
Verma, busy anchoring the evening news on Fox5NY, breezed in just in time to catch the finale. Applauding the models and students as they strutted by, she said “It’s gorgeous and so futuristic, which I love.”