thesis collection: MMXIproject

This past may (26) the MMXIproject collective held a one-night exhibition (gallery style) event at the Tribeca Grand hotel in New York City.

As some of you may know... This was MMXIproject's first event ever and hopefully not the last.

The MMXIproject is a collective formed by Amabelle Aguilluz, Samantha Benassai, Nicole Girion, Zaida Goveo (me) , Michelle Sordi and Mary Symczack.

We met while studying abroad at the Politecnico di Milano, in Italy. Good friendships were born. We used to get together to work on our respective projects and constructively criticize, bounce ideas off each other, and above all, motivate and inspire.

Europe treated us too well. It gave us the time to work on more profound, well-researched and not superficial projects; to question ourselves and the things we thought we knew and believed in. We became more introspective and discerning designers.

When we came back to New York, although excited, we struggled to fit back in. It was our last year (at FIT) and all we wanted was some creative freedom- after all, this was just school, and a perfect time to experiment and take risks. We wanted to keep researching and create things of greatest quality... but the relentless system in which the "fashion" industry and our industry-driven school was run did not permit this.

Upon our return we (Milan) students were immediately pointed out. Teachers would ask "are you MILAN?", if we approached a project differently or asked a question, then: "oh, that's because you're Milan"... which made us feel a bit concerned about our time abroad, and wonder if we had really missed out on that much. The truth is that things just work-differently on opposite continents, and either is completely efficient or correct. Unfortunately, New York was more interested in what we had NOT done rather than what we could contribute- whereas we saw that a balance between the European and "American" approach was necessary.

During our 7th/penultimate semester we had a portfolio class which should've helped us develop our thesis collections (at least conceptually). However, we were forced to work on 3 separate -and totally different- "collections" in a matter of 4 months. Personally, I wasn't satisfied with any of my 3 projects. I needed more research time as the concepts were still at a very preliminary stage- and still too superficial for my taste-. But I wanted to meet the deadlines and get through the semester while juggling an internship, a job, and 6 more classes- so I tried to put my stubbornness aside and "just do the silly projects" for school.

I was not the only one on this boat, and it seemed that the only people that though there was something "wrong" with this rhythm were my "study abroad" peers.

We knew that everyone's goal was to get in to the Senior Fashion Show in the end of the year and then get any entry level job in the "industry". Those were not our goals, we had bigger goals.

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A bit of background:

Only 1/3 of the graduating class gets into the BFA show. The garments are pre-judged by your teacher and a critic (designer) from the industry (who had been monitoring/helping us throughout the semester) and will select the "best" work from your group/specialization. Then these garments are put out for judging by a group of industry professionals who are judging according to their own personal criteria.

Because there is so much pressure regarding the participation in the BFA show, I feel that people were more concentrated on making garments that would GET INTO THE SHOW (that their professor liked, the critic liked, and were perhaps more"sellable" ) than on creating garments that reflected their individuality as designers, their vision, and that would ultimately be a strong piece to add to their portfolios. All semester/year long I heard endless discussions about how "the teacher didn't like it", or "now I have to change my whole concept because the professor said the judges wouldn't understand it", or "how your garment looks beautiful in the white-jersey prototype fabric because it looks like a "Calvin Klein piece" but if you use your japanese-artisanal paper yarn it will look too rugged" (excuse me, but that can beautiful too; not all of us want to be "cookie cutter" designers).

If you make it into the show, then your garment will walk down the runway.

For this show your outfit will be styled as the show producers wish (even if a weird peter-pan style hat or a gold-sequined bag have nothing to do with your look), you will get two tickets to the "rehearsal" show (you only get to see the 7pm -nicer show- if you are a critic award winner) and one of those tickets is for you, AND when your model starts walking, people in the audience won't know who is the designer unless they've been looking at the program (instead of the runway) and can understand the bizarre description they chose for it which is something like "green recycled cotton bubble stitch dress"!!!

I had decided in the beginning of the semester that I was not going to compromise my vision to please the judges and get into the show... I took advice from the critic, professors and classmates, but stayed true to my vision- and fortunately enough, did make it into the show-.

click here for a bit of the process

and click here for video of the show (watch minute 10:18 for my garment )

The "Milan" girls and I, wanted to be able to show our work in an environment with no boundaries, no labels, no expectations or predefined ideas of what we "should" be exhibiting. We wanted to break away from the pressures of school and the industry and do something for ourselves individually and honor the strength we had collectively- and so- the MMXIproject was born.

We wrote a MANIFESTO, and paired up with Dave Kirshoff (industrial design) who helped us on the "curatorial side" and built custom display units according to what we were showing. We exhibited a range of mediums that express the design sensibilities of each designer including textile development, photography, inspiration research, sketches, and actual garments.

one of David Kirshoff creations for our displays. he really understood where we were coming from and what we wanted to show people!

This YEAR's presentation's theme was TRANSITION; as MMXIproject (meaning the 2011project) is reflecting the transition we are going through- from students to young professionals, from designers to artists (or vice-versa), from NY to Milan to NY....

We wanted to present the projects not only as final products of a technical craft, but to show the research and thought process to parallel the final result.Thus, one room was dedicated to finalized work (this is where our installations were; and the other room was the sketchbook room. In the sketchbook room we created collaged walls of inspiration images, fabric scraps, writing, and other odds and ends (to allow our public to see where it all really comes from), we had our sketchbooks showing design development/research, and a cocktail area for people to enjoy and mingle.

room with "installations"

the collage/sketchbook room

Many thanks to Harold @ the Tribeca Grand, David Kirshoff, Jorge Balmaseda (for the website), Auralis and Arnaldo (for covering the event and their article for elpunto es), Tara St.James (for the support and help spreading the word), and the numerous people who came to support us and share that special night.

An image gallery of the event's pictures will be up sometime soon... meanwhile, enjoy these: