Reconstruction: Live Competition United Music and Fashion in Innovative Ways

The School of Fashion at Parsons The New School for Design collaborated with Louis Vuitton, a worldwide leader in luxury, for a live competition on September 17 that united music and fashion in innovative ways. Working in real time in the Parsons storefront gallery on Fifth Avenue, 10 teams of two students remixed pieces from the Parsons archive and signature Louis Vuitton pieces designed by LV Artistic Director and Parsons alumnus Marc Jacobs to create conceptual looks based on historic silhouettes.

The winning team of Min Sun Kim and Lydia (Yeo Chung) Kim created a dramatic evening gown that incorporated menswear elements such as blazer lapels, trench coats, and a hand-painted hemline, each won $2,500 and an invitation to visit the Louis Vuitton headquarters in Paris. All of the looks will be on view through September 25 at the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons The New School for Design, 66 Fifth Avenue, New York.

"Since the founding of the company, Louis Vuitton has been a great supporter of creativity and innovation in the worlds of both fashion and art," said Daniel Lalonde, President and Chief Executive Officer, Louis Vuitton North America. "It is a thrill for us to work with these talented fashion design students from Parsons, one of the premier schools of art and design in the world."



A panel of fashion experts, including Harold Koda, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Esquire Fashion Director Nick Sullivan, celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, Sugar Vendil, Founder and Artistic Director of the Nouveau Classical Project, and Daniel Lalonde, selected the winning looks. The looks will be worn by musicians of the Nouveau Classical Project in an October 2 performance at The New School's Tishman Auditorium. The Nouveau Classical project is an ensemble where musicians model fashion created by young designers inspired by the music.

"Bringing together music, fashion, history, and one of the world's great design houses is a wonderful example of the Parsons philosophy," said Parsons Dean of Fashion Simon Collins. "Thanks to the generosity of our friends at Louis Vuitton, these one-of-a-kind creations will demonstrate our students' conceptual design skills, their craftsmanship, and their awareness of the human form, in this case the Nouveau Classical Project musicians."

The students were inspired by select historic looks, including the Yves Saint Laurent Russian look from 1976; a scarlet red satin evening gown with a New Look silhouette circa 1940's; a 1890's dressing gown with leg-o-mutton sleeves; a floral Yves Saint Laurent suit from Spring/Summer 1989; a Claire McCardell dress with a Pauine Trigere capelet, both from the mid-1950's. The Louis Vuitton inspiration looks included a Fall/Winter 2008 Silk Twill Spiral Bustier Dress; a Spring/Summer 2008 Sleeveless Feather Top and Feather Skirt; a Fall/Winter 2007 Silk Radzimir Degrade Dress; a Fall/Winter 2003 Patchwork Fur Double Face Dress; and a Spring/Summer 2006 Chain Dress.

In addition to Min Sun Kim and Yeo Chung Kim, the participating students, who are all in their senior year at Parsons, included the teams of Gabrielle Arruda and Erin Barr; Gabrielle D'Amico and Angela Brugioni; Nicole Mobasser and Tiffany Ma; Katharine Leaver and Victoria Choi; Anna (Jayoon) Choi and Angela Lee; Han-Ching (Paula) Cheng and Shi Hui Mei S. Lim; Stacey Cunningham and Jacqueline Carrillo; Sarah Jung and Ivy Yen-Chu Chen; and Laura Siegel and Niloufar Mozafari.

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