Written By Cassidy Ratner
This year, as a part of their annual summit, the Michigan Fashion Media Summit once again put on their Fashion Forward Showcase — an incredible opportunity for students interested in fashion to showcase their talents and hard work and be honored in front of attendees and speakers alike. Ross Retail Club had the honor of speaking with these incredible innovators about their work and what it means to them.
We were first given the privilege to speak with Trinity Brown, a junior at the University of Michigan in the process of attaining her BBA and the founder of Trinity Barbara the Brand. Brown founded Trinity Barbara when she was only twelve years old upon receiving her scoliosis diagnosis, which helped her to learn to express herself creatively in new outlets after being a dancer for ten years. Her jewelry aims to use non-first resource metals consisting of recycled sterling silver and fourteen karat gold in order to create unique and sustainable jewelry. Brown states that she would love for this to be her full time career and is currently taking advantage of all of the amazing resources that the school and her program have to offer. When asked her favorite piece that she has created, Brown claims that her butterfly custom order pieces are her favorite, due to their long term sentimental value. Given that butterflies are her spirit animal, these pieces evoke a full circle feeling, especially since at a party before one of her surgeries, everyone wrote their love and prayers for her on little paper butterflies. Brown concludes by sharing how she has learned to create things for just her instead of what she thought other people wanted to see or purchase.
We then spoke with Peyton Messner, a sophomore at the University of Michigan studying art and design, who showed us a display of five shoes that represent five different mental disorders. This project that was started over quarantine takes a spin on the classic saying, “take a walk in someone else’s shoes,” and works to educate others on the prevalence and meaning of these mental disorders with a unique and creative approach. Messner was able to combine her passions for art and fashion design while still speaking to something that she believes to be incredibly important. She states that she would love to make wearable versions of these shoes in the future and is additionally in the process of creating other wearable garments.
Van Tran, coworker of Nikki Park, shared with us AMHO ATELIER ™, a luxury handbag brand that has been able to demonstrate their care for their supply chain through the display of an NFC chip placed on each of their bags. With the tap of a chip, each satisfied customer can see exactly where their money goes. It is distributed to everyone from factory workers to models to photographers. Tran claims that essentially it is a crypto wallet and a handbag all in one. The brand was started two years ago amidst the Covid-19 pandemic and received $20,000 in grant funding. The founders believe in “slow” fashion as opposed to fast fashion, only creating forty bags per collection.
Finley Peterson, a sophomore at the University of Madison, Wisconsin is studying textiles and fashion design with a certificate in sustainability. Peterson’s portfolio is composed of an intersection between art and fashion along with anecdotes from sculptural pieces. Her work is focused on elaborate textures and colors, even incorporating the sculpting of flowers onto her pieces to give a textural component. She explained how she is very inspired by both nature and vintage, but strives to stray away from microtrends in order to avoid going out of style quickly and to uphold longevity for her creations. As a student who is only nineteen years old, Peterson claims that she is still trying to find and define herself but hopes to have her own company started within the next three years. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs, and has loved watching them being able to make their own work schedules. She then explained how her interest in fashion sparked when she was a kid, but she felt as if it was an unrealistic career to pursue until she reconnected with the fashion world once again in high school.
Lastly, we spoke with Bryan Wilson, a junior at the University of Michigan studying Art and Design, who has created a brand of elevated streetwear called 1derful. A lot of the inspiration behind the pieces come from utility and work wear. Wilson described having a brand and seeing the pieces come to life has been one of the greatest feelings ever. Wilson affirms that he sees himself becoming his own fashion house in the future, and possibly working for other big fashion houses as well. He explained how his brand was created as an accident originally, until he then realized that he wanted to take it to the next level and pursue his dream as an artist to be able to create.