Save this story Save Story Save this story Each year, as part of the CFDA/ Vogue Fashion Fund , the 10 finalists are given a design challenge. This year’s Material Innovation Challenge, presented in partnership with Humane World for Animals, asked the designers to reimagine their brands through the lens of sustainable and bio-based fabrics.
Each designer received a stipend and a recommended list of sustainable materials and was required to use at least two. The finalists, who first met in June, have spent the last few months reexamining their 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, joined by their chosen muses, to present their final designs to a judging panel comprising Thom Browne, Chloe Malle, Aurora James, Kitty Block, PJ Smith, Yumi Shin, Nicole Phelps, Christopher John Rogers, Denise Magid, and Eva Chen. It is always admirable to see young designers reinvent their craft, especially when they expand the possibilities for a sustainable future.
Photo: Martin Romero Zane Li and Ayak Veronica met via the traditional channels of a model-designer duo: runway-show castings. Beyond her towering stature and runway grace, Veronica quickly came to embody who Li was designing for. “I think she represents what a woman should be,” Li says. “She is bold, and she doesn’t look to fit in with what everyone is wearing.” For the look, Li reimagined his signature motifs, such as a pop of contrasting red cotton jersey and tufts of fur. This time, the fur was made from natural fibers and shaped into 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, reimagined in texture.
Photo: Martin Romero While Claire Sullivan’s designs are often fantastical creations for It-girl eccentrics, she drew inspiration for the design challenge from her real-world community. “I wanted to focus on two avenues that I feel like are part of the current structure of Miss Claire Sullivan and also part of the future of Miss Claire Sullivan,” she explains. “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 minidress from mock silk made entirely from orange peel fiber, along with a matching orange-peel-silk bouquet. Vernet will wear the dress and carry the bouquet at 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 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,” says Juju Vera. This was Vera’s first time making ready-to-wear, an exercise that made her think 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, Marella Agnelli character.” It was fitting, then, that her muse, Agnese Furlanis, was from Venice. The result was a white turban with a turquoise centerpiece 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. The jewelry also included a large cuff with a turquoise center stone and a turquoise necklace with a strap made from Amazon-sourced vegan leather. “I loved this challenge because it really helped illustrate the Vera woman from head to toe,” she says. “I’m now inspired to dream bigger and think about other categories I could play with.”
Photo: Martin Romero Jamie Haller and her muse, Marnie Herald, have always had a synergy. Herald has been with Haller since the beginning and has modeled for the brand. “I picked Marnie because we’re similar hearts,” Haller says. “We’re both similar ages, and we are similar artists and creatives. I see myself in her.” Adhering to her own design codes, Haller re-created a look from her spring collection—an asymmetrical top and sleek trousers—this time using faux silk made from orange-peel fiber, dyed in LA and fused to add 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 signature loafers use animal leather, but they’ve pushed her to think differently about production. “This was a really fun experiment,” she said.
Photo: Martin Romero Through his muse, Filipino model and painter Adarni Karina, George Inaki wanted to represent his brand’s core tenets. “I talk about my Japanese heritage a lot, but I wanted to highlight and also embrace my other heritage with the Filipino,” he explains, noting that the name Milamore comes from his Filipino grandmother. “I was born in the Philippines, I grew up in Japan, my mother’s Filipino, and my dad’s Japanese.” As a jewelry designer, he made this challenge his first foray into ready-to-wear. Karina sported a matching set fashioned from an upcycled kimono, trimmed with amber buttons and a collar of dried elephant leaf from the Amazon. For the jewelry, Inaki sourced lab-grown T. rex leather from a UK company that uses fossil gene sequencing to re-create the material. The leather cuff bracelet featured a broken-heart clasp of 18k gold, silver, and natural diamonds that evoked 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 took the form of a backless, long-sleeve version of the spring collection’s “butt-crack” dress, paired with a Hawaiian-print latex skirt. Long sourced the skirt’s material from a Brooklyn studio; the artisan’s family in Brazil taps trees for their sap, layering it onto deadstock twill and cotton. The fabric then dries on the Amazon forest floor, where bugs fuse into the material and become visible 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 collection—push materiality and fabric development,” Long says. “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,” laughs Terrence Zhou. For the designer, whose unconventional brand, Bad Binch TongTong, has never followed traditional fashion rules, the challenge felt like a 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 future.” For the first time, Zhou used vegan leather to create a sculptural brown-and-neon-green body piece that mimicked the shape of a palm tree top. He then layered that over a nude bodycon dress with the brand’s signature wire hem. For Zhou, the avant-garde design was also a way to inspire. “I want to give people hope in this time and era,” he said.
Photo: Martin Romero Zoe 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. The materials-first designer felt comfortable with the challenge’s parameters 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 elevate this handsewn dress into a really nice gown,” she said. The hand-stitched frock was complemented by faux-fur hip pads made from flax and other natural fibers, resembling a worn childhood stuffed animal. It all felt very business as usual for the slow-fashion designer. “I was just playing in the same way that I would with deadstock textiles,” she said.
For Persian designer Amir Taghi, linking up with his muse, Mya Ghorbani, felt a bit like 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 Ghorbani started modeling, he reached out and was ecstatic to connect. His design, like many patterns and textiles in his brand, was a further extension of his heritage. Both the faux-leather jacket and orange-peel-silk dress evoked the spots of the Asiatic cheetah; fewer than 30 are estimated to remain in the wild in Iran. Framing the jacket’s cutout spots, Taghi also included traditional Iranian brasswork, a longtime artisanal technique he loves. The challenge has already inspired his work and reframed how he thinks 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’s stepdaughter and has since become a part of the family. Sosa’s open-knit, asymmetrical dress—made from deadstock silk, yarn, and sustainable latex—layered over a floor-length orange-peel-silk dress easily evoked Camps’s design ethos. “This is Look 21 from our collection,” says 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 one of the collection’s asymmetrical cardigans, this time featuring a detachable shoulder strap that can be customized with different buttoning arrangements. The look built on Camps’s emerging design signatures but through an updated lens.
Source: Lifestyle
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