After hours bent over their sewing machines in The Warehouse, students in Syracuse University’s fashion design program are ready to show off the collections they’ve spent all semester creating. The Senior Collection Fashion Show will be held Thursday in Goldstein Auditorium at 12:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The Daily Orange talked to three senior fashion design students about the inspiration behind their collections, their design concepts and their post-graduation plans.

Lung Ung

Coming from a household with four sisters, Lung Ung, who is the only male student in his graduating class, is accustomed to being the only guy in the room.

Ung said he wanted to create a collection that celebrates the essential wardrobe of a woman and what she would wear on a daily basis.

“I’m using the idea of deconstruction, so like basically (designing) the basic pieces every woman should have in her closet (with) something a little off about it, but in a good way,” he said. “The idea of the whole thing is ironic — going against what people would think as the normal.”

The resulting collection juxtaposes feminine pieces like a full, red chiffon skirt against an edgy black bustier and topped off with a red bomber jacket. Ung’s design style is detail-oriented and tailored with some streetwear influences.

He said his design style has definitely changed a lot over the past couple of years from very elaborate to a tamer overall look.

His finale piece is a twist on the classic little black dress.

“It’s going to transform into a big white dress,” he revealed. “She’s going to walk down the runway in a little black dress at first and she’s going to rip it off, and it’s going to turn into a white dress.”

Tiffany Wu

After spending hours browsing through Pinterest for design concepts, Tiffany Wu decided on inception, the idea of what is displaced between reality and fiction and the use of multiple layers and repetition.

“I kind of want to skew the audience’s view of how they see a traditional garment and kind of challenge it,” she said. “When you unzip something, it’s another layer and it shows another zipper.”

Her resort collection blurs the line between functional and decorative with zippers that open up to pockets and others that serve purely decorative purposes. Some garments in her collection include a mint green boucle dress that zips down to the hem to reveal a second layer with another zipper. In addition she will present a vest that has a three-in-one pocket — a pocket, inside a pocket, inside another pocket.

Wu describes the collection as sophisticated and a little edgy with a touch of elegance. She designs women’s clothes that embody these characteristics and exude confidence.

“I want them to use my clothes as a coat of armor,” she said. “I want them to be proud of themselves and celebrate the woman that they are.”

Throughout the semester, which Wu describes as “a whirlwind of tears, sweat and blood,” she leaned on her classmates, especially her best friend Lung Ung, for support. As a tribute, a pair of shorts in Wu’s collection has a red pocket lining for Ung while his red bomber jacket is lined mint green for Wu.

“We’re all in the same situation, all in the same boat,” Wu said. “But we definitely root for one another, and we keep each other’s morale high.”

Sophia Juker

Sophia Juker grew up around shoes. Her mother co-owns Yarid’s Shoes, a family-owned shoe store, and introduced her to the world of fashion.

“She would take me on their shoe-buying trips to New York and I’ve always loved shoes,” she said. “She kind of steered me in that direction and has always been a great support and a great eye because I can send her my things and she’ll give me her honest opinion.”

Growing up, Juker spent a lot of time at The Greenbrier hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia where Yarid’s Shoes is located. Juker’s collection is inspired by the prints and colors used in the interior design of the hotel. She designed garments that she imagines a young lady would wear on a summer vacation at The Greenbrier.

Juker’s vibrant collection features multipurpose garments such as a reversible skirt with a tropical floral print and a dress that can fold into a poufy pink skirt. She believes her collection will stand out for being girlier than the rest.

“It’s not like frilly and cutesy but compared to right now I feel like there’s a lot of minimal and clean lines,” she said. “Mine is definitely not like that. It’s like bold, colorful, crazy fabric so I think it sets me apart.”

After graduating, Juker will be continuing the family business with a job at Sam Edelman, the famous footwear brand.

Published on April 21, 2015 at 10:03 pm