On a rainy Tuesday morning, stragglers found shelter and beauty amid a gathering crowd in The New School University Center. Dress forms adorned in cascading layers were scattered beneath the glow of fluorescent lights as a celebration of success, creativity, and community coalesced — a perfect antidote for the day’s dreary chill.  

On May 6, the Parsons School of Design BFA Fashion Design program hosted the 2025 Y2/Y3 Fashion Open Studios, showcasing the work of second and third-year undergraduate designers in the presence of family, friends, and industry professionals. 

The open studios were held  May 6-9, inviting public viewing and transforming various classroom spaces into intimate exhibitions of student work. Tables were lined with open sketchbooks, swatches of fabric, and drawn prototypes, thoughtfully arranged to tell the story behind each student’s piece. The vibrant colors, abstract shapes, and intricate details highlighted the designers’ skills. 

The pieces featured in the opening reception carried their own distinct theme, reflecting the original and creative voices of the fashion design students. Props like digital cameras, lamps, and jewelry added a tangible dimension to some of the displays.

Darius Murakami, a second-year fashion design student , stood proudly beside a striking handmade black hooded corset. The textured stretch marks and intentional rips in the fabric emphasized Murakami’s theme of feeling trapped within one’s own body. The layered construction revealed both literal and symbolic elements of restriction. As the collection suggested, constriction — whether physical or emotional — can be deeply painful. “You should … be able to … just embrace yourself, who you are, be able to express yourself in any way you want,” Murakami said.

Models dressed in the designers’ work were captured in photos with vivid environments or wearing artistic makeup, highlighting the interplay between the design process and photography. 

Among the guests on Tuesday was Minga Mandakor, a second-year BAFA Parsons fashion design and Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts anthropology student, who heard about the event through studio professors. “There’s a general emphasis on sustainability, and I’ve seen a lot of textile manipulation, even in the collections,” Mandakor said.

Upon noticing the other attendees, Mandakor noted a lack of class unity and a sense of division among Parsons students. “I feel [with] the way that the departments are set up there isn’t a lot of encouraging people to connect,” Mandakor said. “Our core classes [are] supposed to be connected, but they’re not. The professors don’t communicate, and so things are really confusing and disorganized. It would have been nice to know about the open studio through means that weren’t just word of mouth,” Mandakor said. 

A chance for a collective showcase among fashion design students emphasized the benefits and importance of student connection. Some students took the opportunity to present garments incorporating cultural heritage and individual identity, bringing more intimate tones to the work on display. Jackie Filip, a second-year  fashion design student, chose a family member as their muse. Filip’s grandmother, a deeply influential figure in their life, inspired the dramatic collection —  a chorus of purples and lilacs echoed the colors of their grandmother’s home garden.

According to Filip, their process was very trial and error. “So I was specifically looking in relation to my grandma, the aging female body, and … through my research, I realized there’s certain parts of the body that they want to hide.” Filip’s research listed examples of the stomach, thighs, neck, and arms, as common insecurities and areas of scrutiny for older women. “I wanted to draw attention to that by using certain silhouettes,” Filip said. “This idea of how older women are kind of expected to make themselves invisible as they get older.” 

Filip marveled at their growth over the past school year. “I’m doing what I love all the time. I have a lot more passion than I did last year. And I think that it shows in my work … I feel much happier with the things I’m producing because I feel a lot more passion for my major than I did in first year,” Filip said. 
The opportunity to share work alongside peers only fuels Filip’s motivation. “It’s really wonderful to see the other sections in particular because we are really contained in fashion within our own cohort.” Filip said. “It’s … about seeing other people’s work and seeing what they’re doing and how can I take inspiration from that. It makes me want to really push myself further.”

As family and friends walked throughout the space, they paused to hug and cheerfully congratulate their loved ones’ hard work. The morning studio came to a close, and students hurried to change into their designs crafted for a class-wide fashion show among the dress forms to celebrate the year’s end. For Y2/Y3 students, their diligent and beautiful work truly paid off.