As we count down to the livestream of DEBUT 2023 on March 31, we wanted to give you a sneak peek at some of the designs you’ll be seeing, including the collection from former Fashion Club President Olivia Bevacqua!
FIDM’s Annual DEBUT Runway Show, on March 31, features designs by graduating students in the Advanced Study Fashion Design Program. The show is the culmination of nine months of intensive theoretical research, advanced fashion construction, and collection development, led by Fashion Design Co-Chairs Nick Verreos and David Paul along with instructors Tomy Huang and Angela Fuentes.
Each Advanced Study Fashion Design student works closely with dedicated instructors in a professional studio environment using live fit models. Emphasis is placed on creating a cohesive capsule collection based on a creative thought process, proper fabrications, and market analysis.
Set an alert in your calendar for March 31 so you can experience the entire debut runway collections from former Fashion Club Presidents Olivia Bevacqua (Port Perry High School in Ontario, Canada) and Jacob Hernandez (Palisades High School in California), and the rest of the Advanced Study Fashion Design cohort: Alex Ziemba, Cyncir Pollard, Evan Brewster, HyeRin Lee, Isabella Andrade, Keagan Roberson, Max Tran, Monica Nakatani, and Steven Sweet Ruth.
Olivia Bevacqua
Classic art inspires Olivia Bevacqua’s Debut collection. Born and raised in a small town called Port Perry in Ontario, Canada, Olivia attended Port Perry High School and is a former FIDM Fashion Club President.
“My DEBUT collection is inspired by classic art pieces through history featuring inspiration from some of my favorite artists and art movements. Each piece represents different art but with my own personal twist. My goal with this collection is to have it as if you visited a museum or gallery and the art jumped off the wall and started walking around you,” she reveals.
We can expect to see a great deal of big ball gown type dresses as well as exaggerated proportions.
“As a designer, I see fashion as an extension of art. Fabric is one of the best forms of expressive mediums and you can “pick” who you want to be through what you wear or design. Fashion is walking art that can tell its own story,” explains Olivia. She’s going for the element of surprise with her collection.
HyeRin Lee
HyeRin Lee is one of the students whose work will be showcased at DEBUT. Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, she moved to Los Angeles to attend FIDM and was accepted into the prestigious Advanced Fashion Design program. She recently won the grand prize at the first annual Pierre Cardin Young Designers Contest, and is awarded with an all-expenses paid three-month apprenticeship at Pierre Cardin in Paris, a $1,000 per month salary, and the opportunity to have a sketch cut, sewn, and made.
“My DEBUT 2023 collection is called Revoir which means ‘Goodbye, see you again’ in French,” explains HyeRin. “I wanted to draw the story of our life that contains the four different sufferings—birth, old, sickness, and death. However, it is the natural up and down we experience in our life and I found the positive beauty inside of the sufferings.”
The collection contains taffeta, organza, spandex, and nylon fabric with four different colors—white yellow, pink, and blue. There are five casts molded using Worbla, which is thermoplastic. Natural curves and fitted silhouettes will be featured.
“Through my collection, I want to send the message of hope. I want them to feel the positive side of how time flows and how our life changes whether it is good or bad,” she says.
Alexander Ziemba
Student Alexander Ziemba is also looking forward to sharing his DEBUT 2023 collection. This California native has been designing since high school. “The first full garment I ever created was a replication of a pair of Balmain biker jeans. I still wear them,” he says.
Alexander attended St. Joseph High School before heading to the University of San Francisco, where he completed a B.A. in Design. It was then that he realized he wanted to focus solely on fashion, and enrolled at FIDM and earned his A.A. in Fashion Design in 2021 before entering the Advanced Study Fashion Design program.
The theme of Alexander’s Debut collection, I CAN CCCCCCC, is transformation. “With the collection I really tried to explore shape and experimentation with how far I could push the boundaries of the designs. I tried to approach the overarching idea of transformation in different ways or lenses that I hope will translate to the audience, even if the concepts aren’t immediately understood,” he explains.
We can expect a great deal of texture with this collection. A wide variety of fabrics is used, including waxed cotton, several knits, brocade, tulle, sherpa, faux leather, and faux fur.
“As a designer, all I strive for is to continually push the idea of what fashion looks like. When I design I try to think of a root concept, and then how it can be taken to the next level,” Alexander says.
Gather your Fashion Club and join us for an exciting virtual event as we watch the DEBUT Runway Show together on March 31 at 2:30 PM PT.
