Designers leave nothing on the table during the Beyond Fashion showcase

Decked out with technicolor lights and vibrant animated displays, RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios soundstage became a runway last week during Beyond Fashion. The rainbow runway featured a diverse collection of garments and wearables crafted by local designers and RIT students across multiple disciplines.

The theme for the fashion show was “On the Table,” which paid tribute to Lella and Massimo Vignelli’s designs that exist on the tabletop. Some designers opted for literal interpretations—with models wearing outfits adorned with silver cutlery or, in one case, a dress that emulated a round dining table—while others channeled the elegant simplicity found in many of Vignelli designs. All the designers drew inspiration from the Vignelli Center for Design Studies Archives when crafting their pieces.

“The Vignelli’s did extensive work on product design and graphic design for objects that live on a table, like books, dishes, perfume bottles, and all kinds of things,” explained Maddy Schoenfeld ’20 (metals and jewelry design) ’23 (MBA), producer of Beyond Fashion. “There is a lot of very cool source material for designers to work from with this theme.”

Schoenfeld has helped lead and organize Beyond Fashion since its inception in 2021. Born from conversations between Josh Owen, director of the Vignelli Center, and Wendy Marks, director of F&A Galleries, Schoenfeld was recruited to bring the idea for the event to life.

“Beyond Fashion offers a new way for people who are interested in fashion design to show their work,” she said. “The original idea was to form a connection with fashion at RIT and to forge a connection with the Rochester community by working with local designers.”

Over 150 RIT students participated in Beyond Fashion this year—the largest group Beyond Fashion has ever seen—and more than 200 community members attended the event.

This event marked Brandon Riley’s third year participating in Beyond Fashion, having walked as a model the past two years. This year, they had a hand in organizing the event. Along with Schoenfeld and team, Riley helped with outreach to different designers, planning the runway, and coordinating with the various teams that helped bring the show to life.

“I've always been into fashion. Since RIT doesn't have many fashion-oriented programs, this event is a really cool chance to showcase all of the people who are into fashion design here on campus,” said Riley, a fourth-year new media design student from Westminster, Md.

Riley explains that part of the appeal for participating students is the opportunity to showcase one’s artwork in—or have a direct hand in organizing—a professional, polished production.

“It’s been one of my highlights in the fall semester every year since I got involved,” they said.

To extend the excitement beyond the day of the event, organizers are working with museum studies student Gabrielle Payne to create an exhibition about the show. The exhibition is set to open in the University Gallery in early 2025.

Payne, a third-year student, has walked as a model for Beyond Fashion every year since she came to RIT from West Orange, N.J. When she transferred into the museum studies program, she thought creating an exhibition about the event could be a unique way to get hands-on curation experience.

“I plan to have the exhibition be quite literal with the theme of the show. We’ll have tables with mannequins around them, and the layout will be like a dinner party,” said Payne. “I think having this experience will be really useful for after I graduate, especially if I end up pursuing my master’s degree.”

The team that led the charge in running this year’s Beyond Fashion showcase includes:

• Executive Producer Maddy Schoenfeld
• Content Producer Stacy Nethery, a fourth-year fine art photography student
• Production Assistant Valentina Scottini, a fourth-year industrial design student
• Production Coordinator Yohemery Kpodo, a fourth-year new media design student
• Producer Brandon Riley

In addition to this core team, new media design students came together, led by Jason Arena, director of the undergraduate new media design program, to create stunning visuals that were displayed on LED screens around the venue to enhance the look of the fashion show. Music was also curated and composed by Lucas Cleary, a third-year accelerated BS/MS computer science student.

Beyond Fashion is hosted and sponsored by the Vignelli Center for Design Studies and RIT’s MAGIC Spell Studios.

Immerse yourself in the colorful designs showcased during the event by going to the Beyond Fashion Instagram or the Beyond Fashion website.