About 25 garments coming down the runway this year were made using the digital textile printer, compared to about 10 last year. The change comes as more students become aware of the technology, and as scholarships are awarded this year for garments that use it.
“The overall color of their line is better because if they’re able to print their own fabrics, they can go into their files and they can tweak and say, ‘I want this blue to be a little darker. I want this yellow to be a little brighter,’” said Sarah Bennett, a lecturer in apparel, merchandising, and design who’s the adviser to The Fashion Show.
“The students that don’t digitally print, they’re just at the mercy of either what they find at JoAnn’s [fabric and craft store] or what they order online,” Bennett said. “When you order stuff online, you never really know what’s going to come in the mail.”
Inspired by vintage football
Molly Charipar of Cedar Rapids, an Iowa State senior majoring in apparel, merchandising, and design, digitally printed all of the garments she submitted for this year’s fashion show.
The inspiration for Charipar’s senior collection came from vintage football. Her line of green blouses feature digitally printed designs meant to represent the face mask of a football helmet. Leather lacing and pleated sleeves representing shoulder pads complete the look.
“I really like football,” she said. “I didn’t miss a game this semester.”
One- and 2-year-old toddlers will walk down the runway Saturday to showcase Charipar’s other collection – a children’s line with digital prints tailor-made to what their parents ordered. The line includes shirts with stripes made out of bugs, plaid made out of trains, and stripes made out of butterflies.
“I really enjoy prints,” Charipar said. “It’s a way that you can put your own spin on your designs.”
Charipar also used an engineered digital design to create a green-and-brown patchwork dress called “An Empire State of Mind.” It’s a dress based on Charipar’s favorite images from her time in New York last summer, interning for Marc Jacobs. The dress features images of the Brooklyn Bridge and the roller coaster at Coney Island.
“It’s about creative expression – bringing an image to life,” said Charipar, who is the lab assistant in the Digital Apparel Technology Studio and will in July begin working as an assistant technical designer at Abercrombie & Fitch in Columbus, Ohio.
Other students with digitally printed garments in The Fashion Show this year used designs ranging from beach pictures to botanical prints like plant cell structures, vintage refrigerators and kitchens, and topographic maps.
Iowa State University
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