Bold fashion can send a powerful message. For student designers at NYU’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study, it can also be used to empower others. In 10 photos, discover how students showcased power, strength, and body confidence at the seventh annual Gallatin Fashion Show.
1. This year’s theme, “emPOWERed,” prompted designers to reflect on political, cultural, and social forms of power.
2. In response to the theme, designers used a diverse array of fabrics, styles, and concepts to highlight what power means to them.
3. Designs displayed at the fashion show explored everything from superheroes and the environment to gender neutrality.
4. Each set of models went through extensive preparation backstage, then hit the catwalk.
5. Delaney Beem’s “Pollinator Power” focused on the bees, bats, butterflies, and hummingbirds that power our ecosystem.
6. With “Fioul Fatale,” designer Ryan Andrewsen illustrated the debate over the consumption of fossil fuels.
7. The costumes of “Tarot Dances” by Em Watson investigated gendered archetypes, like the Fool, the High Priestess, and the Empress, on tarot cards.
8. Rachel Wang’s ready-to-wear designs from “Dreamscape” were inspired by a recent dream of her own: a little girl’s futile flight from danger.
9. Victor Leonard’s “Umoja” (or “unity” in Swahili) presents an ode to black women, black love, and the strength of collective identity.
10. Altogether, Gallatin designers not only questioned structures of power but also constructed their own ways to inspire others.
