The Savannah College of Art and Design has a reputation for bringing the buzziest of fashion folk to the place where you least expect them; a quaint, historic city in the South. What else could Aurora James and Zerina Akers and industry insiders including Vogue’s Virginia Smith, Bruce Pask of Neiman Marcus, and Puck’s Lauren Sherman be doing together in Savannah, Georgia, other than attending SCAD’s annual student fashion show?
The former Style.com editor Dirk Standen took over as dean of SCAD’s School of Fashion in 2022. He’s brought new energy to the Fashion department, putting his rolodex to work to place SCAD students in front of the likes Anna Sui, Raul Lopez of Luar, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Marni’s Francesco Risso, LaQuan Smith, and Hillary Taymour of Collina Strada, all of whom have joined panels or reviewed portfolios in the past year.
It can be isolating to study fashion in Savannah, far from covetable fashion internships and the vivid social life of New York. Shaping students with unique points of view at a remove from outside influences is one of SCAD’s strengths, but its distance from America’s fashion capital has often been considered a chink in its armor, particularly by its own pupils. (It certainly was the case when I was in the fashion program a couple of years ago.) Consider this gap now filled.
SCAD’s class of 2024 received the bulk of their fashion education in person, unlike pandemic-era graduates who were forced to learn and study online, and it showed in the technical achievements of their designs. Offering the year’s best tailoring were Peter Shonoda, with his sculpted necklines and suspended shoulders on jackets and eveningwear, and Ben Callaghan, with his deft exploration of shape. Neither collection looked like student work. The way Eileen Barry incorporated functioning flotation devices into her survivalist menswear was impressive, as were the surreal buoyancy of Sze Yau Ng’s sinuous drapes and the furniture-making skills of Ellie Byrd, who turned a functional chair part into an overcoat.
SCAD has a robust Fibers department focused on textile development, which makes materialization a particular focus of student collections. Show opener Alexa Wexler’s textural painted weaves and shaggy outerwear evoked a compelling spirit of angst-meets-craft. Earl Godfrey’s innovative and outlandish digital reinterpretations of denim gave the humble material a rare new feel, and Sammy Baker’s magpie amalgamation of textiles created surfaces that explored undiscovered territories. Isabelle Ferrugia, Ran Lu, and Maggie Foster, meanwhile, all offered fantastic, store-ready knitwear propositions.
What really distinguishes this class from those preceding it is the evolution and maturity of the conceptualization of their collections. The pandemic made students—and designers across the board—particularly introspective. Last year’s graduating class at SCAD, for example, produced deeply autobiographical collections. This time around, students produced work that was more cultural commentary, than personal storytelling.
Zeynep Salim found inspiration in the Ottoman Empire and her upbringing in Istanbul, bridging tradition with contemporary fashion. Kayleigh Overton put together a fascinating display of tension and volume with bulbous and oxymoronically carnal silhouettes that explored asexuality. Amir Shaghaghi explored his Persian roots in the context of American streetwear, while Max Pelayo offered an homage to the volunteers who assisted during his home country Mexico’s devastating recent earthquake, both to great effect in the menswear space. Fellow menswear designer Chuck Ryan showcased the unique ability SCAD teaches students to assemble and manage a team with aplomb, his collection placing creativity as the answer to the trials creative kids like himself undergo in the traditional education system.
Aurora James, who was this year’s recipient of SCAD’s André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award, was moved to tears after the show, the result, she said, of seeing the students’ spirit of community. In her acceptance speech, she gave the graduates in the room some excellent advice. “Right now you are just too small to fail,” she said, advising them to build their future careers on their own ideas of success, not on someone else’s.
Putting together these collections can feel like the most Herculean of tasks for students, but their journeys have only just now started. James has the right instinct: Right now the stakes are too low for them not to try. Who knows, in a few years they might be the buzzy industry names returning to Savannah for a visit to their alma mater.
