An ever-flowing ocean, a restrictive school uniform, a warrior caressed in beauty: These were the images evoked by House Fashion Week’s installation for emerging young designers at M Fine Arts Galerie Wednesday night.
The event kickstarted House Fashion Week’s schedule for Boston Fashion Week, followed by a kick-off event on Thursday, the Collective Shows on Friday, and the Main Show on Saturday, Oct. 12.
In an intimate gallery, attendees were able to get up close to seven designers’ work — close enough to see the knitting, sewing, and dyeing that went into each piece. Experimentation and personal stories, however, were most on display.
Aryn Lovell’s brand Lovelli showed six pieces that combined fashion with her degree in mechanical engineering, evident in her 3-D-printed designs. The clothes honor the beauty and strength of women’s bodies with revealing silhouettes, micro tops, open backs, and low-cut skirts.
The collection, inspired by Odile and Odette in “Swan Lake,” plays on the edgy aspects of the black swan and the purity of the white.
“Women can sometimes be put into either one or the other, but oftentimes, you’re a mix,” Lovell said. “You can be sexy and alluring but also innocent.”
Laurel Blue’s “After Tide” menswear collection showcases seven aquatic looks and utilizes ice dyeing, multiple blues, and wetsuit material. Founder Laurel Fang grew up in Suzhou, China, where pollution hid the blueness of the ocean. As an open-water diver, she aims to share her connection to the deep blue.
“I kind of want people to feel like they’re drowning, entering a blue world,” Fang said.
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Kay Wan’s collection of five designs, “Beyond Boundary, Beyond Uniform,” was inspired by Chinese school uniforms and American football uniforms, and showcases intricate knitting techniques that imitate jersey netting, towels, and shoulder pads.
Wan grew up in Nanchang, China, “a more traditional cultural background where discipline and conformity were highly emphasized,” she said. A self-proclaimed misfit in middle school, she was drawn toward self-expression and altered her school uniforms in rebellion.
The sportswear side of her collection comes from the celebration of individuality she experienced at a summer camp in Denver and the carefree spirit she felt watching a football game.
Kyoung Kim, the Korean-American designer of “As a Stranger,” felt an overwhelming sense of not belonging in South Korea or America — feelings that were especially prevalent while he was at college in New York. The use of denim with squares on a long skirt imitates windows of skyscrapers, with pleating enforcing the rigidness. “This look represents the uncomfortable atmosphere,” he said.
Jacqueline Mones’s Jacque Label, styled by Kyleigh Duarte, brought a whimsical flare with her coquette and fairy fashion. The resin-molded breast plates, inspired by TV shows like the “Winx Club,” appeared frozen in motion like on a comic book cover.
For Ayla Stover, 19, it brought images of princesses and Barbie to mind. “It was very nostalgic, reminded me of childhood.”
Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
Khammany Phommachanh, a graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design, brought the party with disco-inspired looks in jewel colors that could also be found in her Lao and Vietnamese culture. One look screamed ’80s with a one-size pink romper and belt cinching the waist to create an hourglass perfectly juxtaposed to big shoulders.
“When you are on the dance floor, your energy kind of builds up,” Phommachanh said, “so I wanted to show the energy building up with silhouette.”
And Katie Baek’s ready-to-wear capsule collection “whatrealyhapened,” inspired by daily life, makes loungewear effortless with a lightweight wool jersey material and relaxed scoop necks. The clothing will get comfier with time thanks to its natural fibers. “The more that you wear it, it actually conforms to your body,” Baek said.
While local talent is a main draw of Boston Fashion Week, the installation showed it’s also important to welcome people from outside Boston. Lovell echoed this sentiment, noting the danger in one-way thinking: “Having so many ideas and new thoughts and things to come in is exciting and needed.”
BOSTON FASHION WEEK
Oct. 13-19, bostonfashionweek.com
Shanna Kelly can be reached at [email protected] her @shannakelly_19.