Save this story Save Story Save this story Every year, as part of the CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund , all ten finalists are tasked with a design challenge. This year’s Material Innovation Challenge, presented in partnership with Humane World for Animals, asked the designers to reimagine their brand through the lens of sustainable and bio-based fabrics.
The designers were given a stipend and a recommended list of sustainable materials, of which they each had to use at least two. The CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund finalists, who first met each other in June, have all spent the last few months reexamining their own production processes, discovering new materials, and pushing the boundaries of their independent brands. Yesterday evening at the Warren Street Hotel, the group came together once again, this time with the addition of their chosen muses, to present their final designs to the panel of judges composed of Thom Browne, Chloe Malle, Aurora James, Paloma Elsesser, Yumi Shin, Nicole Phelps, Christopher John Rogers, Denise Magid, and Eva Chen. It is always admirable to see young designers constantly reinvent craft, and more so, to widen the possibilities of a sustainable future.
Photo: Martin Romero Zane Li and Ayak Veronica met via the traditional channels of a model-designer duo: runway show castings. Besides her towering stature and grace on the runway, Veronica quickly became an embodiment of who Li was designing for. “I think she represents what a woman should be—she is bold, and she doesn’t look to fit in with what everyone is wearing,” Li said. The look came together in a similar manner, taking Li’s signature motifs—such as a pop of contrasting red cotton jersey and tufts of fur—and reimagining them. This time, the “fur,” was made from natural fibers and formed in the shape of a fuzzy vest and skirt. The shearling-like texture contrasted with a black boxy tank top made of 98% natural latex sourced from the Amazon. A classic Li silhouette, texturally reimagined.
Photo: Martin Romero While Claire Sullivan’s designs are often fantastical creations for It-girl eccentrics, for the design challenge, she took inspiration from her real-world community. “I wanted to focus on two avenues that I feel like are part of the current structure of Miss. Clare Sullivan and also part of the future of Miss Claire Sullivan,” she explained. “Bridal is a huge part of our business and Alix and I have been friends for almost 10 years, and she’s getting married in November.” Sullivan crafted the poofy tonal polka dot mini dress from a mock silk made entirely from orange peel fiber, complete with matching orange peel silk bouquet, both of which Alix will wear again for her ceremony in two weeks. Sullivan donned a similar bridal silhouette, this time in sustainable Tencel from Lenzing. “I wanted to also offer a more ready-to-wear option—or something that could be worn for a bridal shower, or your brunch, or your rehearsal dinner—but also you could turn this into a perfect holiday dress in black with a jewel tone.”
Photo: Martin Romero “So ‘challenge’ is an understatement because I’m a jewelry designer,” said Juju Vera. Thus, this was Vera’s first time making ready-to-wear, an exercise that had her thinking differently about her own jewelry. “The inspiration started with jewelry and the idea of the turban, because I was inspired by this 1970s, Halston-era, Maria Agnelli character.” It was fitting, then, that her muse Agnes Furlanis was also from Venice. The result was a white turban with a turquoise center piece stone, a white zebra-print shawl scarf, a flowing white dress, and an evening pouch with its own turquoise stone, all made from iterations of orange peel fibers. Further jewelry included a large cuff with a turquoise center stone and a turquoise necklace whose strap was made from vegan leather sourced from the Amazon. “I loved this challenge because it really helped illustrate the Vera woman from head to toe. I’m now inspired to dream bigger and think about other categories I could play with,” she said.
Photo: Martin Romero Jamie Haller and her muse Marnie Herald have always possessed a synergy. Herald has been with Haller since the beginning and has modeled for the brand in the past. “I picked Marni because we’re similar hearts,” said Haller. “We’re both similar ages, and we are similar artists and creatives. I see myself in her.” Adhering to her own design codes, Haller recreated a look from her spring collection composed of an asymmetrical top and sleek trousers, this time with faux silk made from orange peel fiber that was dyed in LA and fused together to give the material more structure. A matching pair of black heeled ankle boots was made from faux grape skin leather. The boots were the biggest departure for Haller, whose brand’s centerpiece loafers utilize animal leather, but it has invited her to think about production differently. “This was a really fun experiment,” she said.
Photo: Martin Romero Through his muse Mona Matsuoka, a Filipino model and painter, George Inaki wanted to represent the core tenets of his brand. “I talk about my Japanese heritage a lot. I wanted to highlight and also embrace my other heritage with the Filipino—I was born in the Philippines, I grew up in Japan, my mother’s Filipino and my dad’s Japanese,” he explained, noting that the name Milamore comes from his Filipino grandmother. As a jewelry designer, this challenge was his first foray into ready-to-wear. Matsuoka sported a matching set made from an upcycled kimono trimmed with a collar composed of dried elephant leaf from the Amazon and amber buttons. For the jewelry, Inaki sourced T-Rex leather sourced from a UK-based company that uses gene sequencing from fossils to recreate the material. The leather cuff bracelet featured a “broken heart clasp” of 14k gold, silver, and natural diamonds that recall his core philosophy of kintsugi: “The heart is a symbol of repair,” he said.
Photo: Martin Romero Emily Dawn Long and Meadow Walker are a dynamic duo: Walker starred in Long’s spring 2027 collection film, and the two sported matching silhouettes for the occasion. “For me, it was very much about continuing the design pieces of the collection, but within the challenge’s materials,” she said. This manifested in a backless, long-sleeve top version of the spring collection’s “butt-crack” dress, this time paired with a Hawaiian-print skirt made from latex. Long sourced the skirt’s material from a Brooklyn studio, where the artisan’s family in Brazil taps trees for their sap and layers it on deadstock twill and cotton. There it then dries on the floor of the Amazon, hence the fused bugs within, which can be seen on close inspection. The result is as quirky as the Emily Dawn Long ethos. “That’s something that I want to continue doing with my brand and collections— push materiality and fabric development,” Long said. “This was very up my alley and what I’ve been wanting to do.”
Photo: Martin Romero “Usually my muse is myself, but for this challenge, my muse is Helen, my best friend,” laughed Terrence Zhou. For the designer, whose unconventional brand Bad Binch TongTong has never abided by traditional fashion rules, the challenge felt like pure opportunity. “My design process is never linear,” he explained. “Being open can get you anywhere. I use my imagination a lot. I was channeling not just my present time, but my inner child and my future.” For the first time, Zhou used vegan leather to compose a sculptural brown-and-neon green body piece that mimicked the shape of a palm tree’s top. He then layered that over a nude bodycon dress with a Bad Binch TongTong signature wire hem. In terms of its avant-garde creativity, “I want to give people hope in this time and era,” he said.
Photo: Martin Romero Anna Gustavia Anna Whalen and Gabrielle Richardson are two downtown darlings who first joined forces when Richardson modeled for Whalen’s eponymous brand. Since then, Whalen has loved her artistic energy. A materials-first designer, Whalen felt very comfortable with the parameters of the challenge and set out to reinterpret a silhouette that feels most signature to her. “I used silhouettes that are from spring 2027, and I thought the orange fiber would just kind of elevate this hand-sewn dress into a really nice gown,” she said. The handstitched frock was complemented by faux fur hip pads made from flax and natural fibers that took on the look of a worn childhood stuffed animal. It all felt very business as usual for the slow fashion designer. “I was just kind of playing in the same way that I would with Deadstock textiles,” she said.
For Persian designer Amir Taghi, linking with his muse Mya Ghorbani was a bit of a fangirl moment. “Her grandmother is one of the most iconic Iranian pop icons from the 1960s until now, and she has always been on my mood board,” he said. When he heard she started modeling, he reached out and was ecstatic to connect. His design, like many of the patterns and textiles within his brand, was a further extension of his heritage. Both the faux leather jacket and orange peel silk dress represented the spots of the Asiatic Cheetah, of which there are only 30 left in Iran. Framing the cut-out spots on the jacket, Taghi also included traditional Iranian brasswork, a longtime artisanal technique he loves. The challenge has already greatly inspired his own work, reframing how he’s thinking about production. “I feel like we work with sustainable materials, but not with materials made out of plants of that sort,” he said.
Photo: Martin Romero Aisling Camps and Arlenis Sosa go way back, quite literally. Sosa used to babysit for Camps’ stepdaughter and has since become a part of the family. Sosa’s open-knit asymmetrical dress, made from deadstock silks, yarn, and sustainable latex, was layered over an orange peel silk floor-length dress, and easily evoked Camps’ design ethos. “This is ‘look 21’ from our collection,” said the designer, who presented 20 looks in her runway debut last month. “We didn’t have an evening look, and this was a perfect opportunity to add look 21.” Using the vegetable cashmere from the challenge, Camps paired the formal ensemble with an updated version of the collection’s asymmetrical cardigans, this time featuring a detachable shoulder strap that can be customized with different buttoning arrangements. The look was familiar to Camps’ burgeoning signatures, but through an updated lens.
Source: Lifestyle
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