Academy of Art fashion students impressed some important folks Thursday night with their graduation show in San Francisco. They drew a full house and a celebrity front row including New York Times writer Cathy Horyn, designer Yigal Azrouel, Andrew Buckler, Duckie Brown designers Daniel Silver and Stephen Cox, Nathalie Rykiel of Sonia Rykiel, as well as recruiters from Abercrombie & Fitch. Azrouel told me that seeing the designs on paper, he thought they were just O.K. But seeing them on the runway was much more exciting. Horyn also told the audience (and me when I got to chat with her briefly after the show) that she was also extremely impressed by the students’ work as well as the program the Academy has in place. The school presented her an honorary doctorate last night, and she spoke with fashion journalism students on Wednesday (see Refinery29′s Q&A here, and read her thoughtful write up here). The big name designers were choosing students to become their interns, which proved to be difficult. Only Nathalie Rykiel announced her choice: Maggie Mo Luo (see her knitwear in the gallery below). The rest chose to wait until they’d pondered their choice and possibly interviewed the students a bit more extensively. If his facial expression above is any indication, I’d guess that perhaps Drew Williams might be one of Azrouel’s top choices.
Academy of Art Fashion Graduates Draw Notable Front Row; Put on Total Pro Show in San Francisco




































































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