Earlier this month, the IIDA San Diego hosted the annual Fashion Show where designers are paired with manufacturers to create couture fashion.
Each year, San Diego’s esteemed design professionals take to the catwalk wearing outfits worthy of a Tony Award and constructed primarily from building materials. The Haute Couture Fashion Show pays tribute to the many talents of our design community where designers are paired with manufacturers to create couture fashion. The 2017 fashion show held earlier this month, had a dramatic twist as the design teams were challenged to create an outfit inspired by popular Broadway plays.
This year, our team’s Broadway inspiration was the award-winning Broadway musical, Wicked, based on a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire which was inspired by Frank Baum’s classic novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We were excited to get started and found inspiration in Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, and her obsession with flight.
“As someone told me lately – everyone deserves the chance to fly.” This quote from the original song “Defying Gravity” inspired our team’s design. We imagined what it would be like to take flight soaring into the air with limitless freedom. The burst of spires attached to the garment represent the surge of powerful energy and excitement experienced while defying gravity.
Our outfit, sponsored by Crossville, was made from glass mosaic tile on the top, the skirt from fabric from the fabric grab, the broom from Crossville packing material, and the spired back piece from marketing materials and mesh adhesive backing for mosaic tiles.
Our long nights paid off when we came home with the “Best Theme Inspiration” award.
Thank you to our sponsors, Tony and Danelle of Crossville, a manufacturer of sustainable tile solutions. As our partner, our garment had to be made exclusively from materials from their product lines, manufacturing process and marketing materials as well as any fabric we could grab during the official Fabric Grab held 6 weeks prior when we were assigned our theme.
As usual, the level of talent in the design community was astounding as the creations that came down the runway were all fabulous! Pictures of the entire show can be found here:
