Origins of Belief: Academy of Art University’s 2025 Spring Fashion Show

A collection by Cailee Lola Grayhorse Pupecki, B.F.A. Fashion Design, is a love letter to the sport that shaped her. “That’s why I decided to make softball uniforms—just to show my gratitude for the sport and also my gratitude for the sisterhood that I’ve created,” said Pupecki. Originally from Southern California, Pupecki played softball for 15 years. Her designs reinterpret traditional baseball and softball uniforms through an unexpected lens. “I researched a lot of old baseball and softball uniforms and then created new uniforms,” said Pupecki. “When I say unconventional, it’s like I’m having people on the field play in suits or dresses, or skirts—things you really wouldn’t expect.”

Pupecki draws heavily from personal experience and visual symbolism. One of her standout illustrations features pigeons, that she connected with the university mascot, the Urban Knight. “When I first heard it, I thought a pigeon could be an Urban Knight in the city because there’s so many of them—like an army.”From that idea, Pupecki developed Pajane, a fictional pigeon character who appears throughout her collection.

She has titled many of her looks to reflect their character and silhouette. “The Bubble Look,” featuring oversized, rounded pants, is one of her favorites. There’s also “The Catcher Look,” a top that mimics a catcher’s gear, and “The Padded Suit,” inspired by the quilted padding of vintage baseball pants. As her collection evolves, Cailee continues to explore what happens when athletic wear becomes art. Each look in her lineup is stitched with story, memory, and a sense of transformation. “The softball taught me a lot,” she shared. And now, she’s returning the favor—uniform by uniform.

MFA Fashion Designer Chase Duval-Champagne emphasizes the importance of classical art training and a fusion of art and fashion in their thesis collection. Throughout their creative journey, Chase engaged in a diverse range of artistic pursuits that include photography, poetry, painting and drawing, interior design and restoration, landscaping, oral arrangements, and more. Explaining their concept and artistry, they shared: “An intriguing exploration, a chaos story in fashion, art, and neurodiversity, this collection of wearable art displays a range of striking formats, intricately depicting the journey of a neurodivergent individual grappling with anxiety within the creative realm. Each piece narrates a compelling story, intertwining aesthetic allure with profound emotional resonance, inviting viewers to engage with the complex nature of creativity and the challenges it entails especially for those who have a neurodivergence, all presented with an enchanting and puckish charm.” Chase’s creative process is enhanced through the use of unconventional materials, all stemming from the idea of “representing neurodivergence within the world and in the fashion industry.

BFA Knitwear designer Dominic Godina combines knit and crochet craftmanship as a skillful approach to textile design. His collection “Memory of the Waters” celebrates the feeling of being nurtured when connecting with nature. Moss, wisteria trees, vines, and the ocean were the forefront of Dominic’s inspiration when creating his designs. In each look there are repetitions of patterns and textures to highlight nature’s amazing fractal structure. Living in San Francisco, he feels a special connection with nature he didn’t experience before in his life, and he felt inspired to translate this through his thesis. When describing his unique approach, Dominic shared: “ I wanted the process of creating my collection to also have a connection to nature, so I put an emphasis on what our human hands can do. The majority of my garments is handmade by strategically crocheting each look right on the body which resulted in forms that cannot be replicated by machine, since before machinery we had our hands.”

Abuse, verbal or otherwise, is not something that is easily explained to an outsider. One can say it is a very personal experience, one that no one should have to go through. Dongying Jiang, B.F.A. Fashion Design, uses her collection to give those who have suffered or are going through verbal abuse a voice and to truly evoke emotion in her viewers.

“The transparent fabrics symbolize fragility and exposure, which directly convey the sense of vulnerability of those who are verbally attacked,” explained Jiang. “When this happens, their weaknesses are exposed without any way to protect themselves.”

Her use of transparent fabrics on the outer layer of the silhouettes implies that, especially in vulnerability, there is still a need for protection. Her lightly saturated red inner linings provide internal coverage and protection for the victim. This component is also meant to illustrate that in the time of abuse, one’s internal emotions and personalities are exposed Additional elements are the incorporation of Chinese shadow puppets and knots. “Such a design integrates historical and cultural elements into modernity, highlighting the cultural background and the individual’s inner struggles,” shared Jiang.

Inspired by Alaska’s rugged glacier terrain, B.F.A. Fashion Design student Emma Latham began her collection by purchasing a second-hand tent from Facebook Marketplace. She draped and cut the material onto a mannequin, using it as the foundation for a concept that soon took her into the Alaskan wild. “I knew what a glacier was, but never really knew what it would really look like up close,” said Latham. “I was really inspired by just the depth that the crevasses go for miles and miles and miles.”

Biodegradable materials, recycled fibers, and 3D printing; not the typical elements you’d expect to see in a fashion show, but they came together perfectly for this oceanic collaborative collection, by Kendra Rae, BFA Fashion Design, and Gigi Youngbauer, BFA Textile Designer. One of the more impressive and innovative parts of this collection is Kendra’s use of a newly publicly available biodegradable filament, a first of its kind. The collection is inspired by seafoam and rock formations found on beaches. Featuring seven looks, with a variety of unique silhouettes and equally distinct handiwork, just like waves or incoming tides, each piece is different and offbeat in its compelling way. Exemplifying her proficiency in the breadth and depth of textile and yarnwork, the textile design collaborator Gigi Youngbauer’s fully handmade two-piece summer ensemble is a complex and detailed feat of her abilities. In designers’ collaborative looks, we will see custom-printed designs on modest silhouettes, interesting and original takes on traditional garments, and a distinctly noteworthy dress, highly reminiscent of seafoam, all in neutral shades and deep oceanic blues. A shared feeling during this process was an appreciation for the metaphorical meaning of the ocean in this collection. Both an inspiration artistically, and a representation of life ebbing and flowing, with their time in college coming to an end.

BFA Fashion Designer Haemi Lee and BFA Textile Designer Claudia Ayleen Nicholas unite their beliefs for a collection named The Shape of God, aiming to represent the sublime nature of the Christian God. Taking visual inspiration from artist Susan Maddux, Haemi took pleated cotton and draped it over the human form, representing the infinite God – who transcends space, time, and reality. She chose to use cotton, framed as a common and affordable cloth, as the main fabric to represent the God’s humbleness, and used additional fabrics such as lame to also showcase His divine nature. All the fabric is hand painted by Ayleen, using Dye-Na-Flow Colors sponsored by Jacquard Products. Each piece was created as an abstract painting that is then folded into clothing. Haemi explained the overall feel of the collection less like clothing and more like walking pieces of art. Ayleen’s creative process is deeply personal. She doesn’t always begin with a clear plan or sketch. Instead, she lets her instincts guide her. This approach has grown even stronger through this collaborative project. “Working with Haemi has been such a blessing,” she says. “She’s patient, supportive, and also a Christian, so we understand each other on a deeper level. It feels like we’re creating something meaningful together.”

A fashion collection that is a blossom of cultures, Hannah Kim, B.F.A. Fashion Design, blends ‘60s and ‘70s San Francisco with her Korean heritage creating a unique mix of silhouettes and textiles. Upon moving to San Francisco for college from Korea, Kim had an epiphany that served as inspiration for her thesis collection. “It was a trend to move to California for all the young people,” said Kim. “I resonated with it. It felt like I was one of those ‘60s hippies.” Parallels meet with her inspiration with the bokjumeoni, a coin bag purse, used in the Joseon Dynasty in Korea inspires the details for the tassels, knots, and shapes of the looks. The city’s rich history of self-expression and the liveliness of its youth do not go unnoticed. Taking notice of objects and outfits seen on the street, Kim used the connection of the straps from both iconic hippie accessories/clothing, and bokjumeoni to thread the collection into one. Additionally, the bubble-like shape of the bag and the knots used to create the bokjumeoni, are used in her prints and silhouettes. Prints are a significant detail for the designer. Drawn by hand, the prints are based on photos she took of her inspiration on the active streets of San Francisco. Using various methods, such as heat transfer, burnout, and silk screening, she created prints on different fabrics and textiles, adding an abstract essence to her garments. Kim expressed the vulnerable side of the process that motivates her. “Doing art—it doesn’t have an answer, you have to just trust yourself,” she explained. “No one will see the final result during your process; you’re the only person who knows this collection better than anyone else.”

Born in Shaoxing, China, MFA Fashion Designer Yujing Wang mixes Chinese culture with elements of the self in her collection. Shanghai was a large source of inspiration for the designer, using old Shanghai style cheongsams as a base for her garments. “I personally love Chinese culture, and I love to watch how they use those Intangible Cultural Heritage techniques on social media,” shared Wang. “During my undergraduate years, I took a special class to learn about traditional Chinese clothing and the history of clothing in China.” Wang also implements the meaning of the self into her modernized qipaos, like the use of dragons to represent her zodiac sign and color palette inspired by her name’s meaning (Yu Jing means “Jade Well” in Chinese). The designer experimented in her collection, using shadowplay and converting 3D shapes into 2D forms. “At the beginning, the shape of the dragon may be superficial, a very figurative dragon coiled in the costume, after continuous attempts to do the costume silhouette, from the silhouette or the use of the shape of the darts to continue to explore how to integrate the elements of the dragon into the design.” The traditional fabrics from China, such as silk dyed with Shoulang Yam called gambier Guangdong gauze and the delicately ornate Song brocade, and draping create the juxtaposition of elegant Chinese culture with novelty design.

M.F.A. Fashion Designer Martharine Anne Olivia Jabo’s thesis collection, titled “URITHI,” which means Heritage in Swahili, embodies aspects of a rich African heritage fused with modern elements of design and premium craftsmanship. “Urithi” is a re-interpretation of African fashion and culture into contemporary fashion.

“This is a collection that’s a celebration of my cultural identity, a preservation of traditional African practices that showcases the uniqueness, beauty, and diversity of African fashion to a wider audience,” shared Jabo. “Some of the traditional elements included in the garments are beadwork, use of traditional African woven fabrics, fabric manipulation, silhouettes, as well as ancient beauty practices like the wearing of lip plates and body art techniques.”

As a way of preserving her African heritage and cultural practices, Jabo chose to use sustainable fabrics such as Asooke and Kente that were hand-woven from various parts of Africa, and the process of creating these fabrics involves the use of sustainable fibers as well as sustainable production techniques that have been used for centuries.

:“My collection embodies different unique design ethos and is a combination of several aspects of fashion such as millinery, tailoring, beading, corsetry, needlework among others that I have interpreted in my own way,” explained Jabo of her creative process and techniques. “In addition to that, I have explored textile fabrication through the use of gold paint and gold leaf that have both been applied delicately by hand.”

BFA Fashion Designer Vanda Ouyan decided to use her collection to embrace nostalgia. Titled “The Smell of Stars”, her concept takes the audience on a journey of what one can imagine stars would smell and taste like. This would include certain scents such as gunpowder, liquid metal, and even welding fumes. She translates these sensory impressions into her design with the experimentation of burning the fabrics to create raw, uncontrolled textures. She implements sequins and delicate lace to capture the radiant, shimmery quality of stars. Vanda explained that her collection is inspired by the book The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. ““From my childhood memories of reading a book by myself, biting my fingers, and having that sensorial curiosity, it made me want to explore other random things in depth” shared Vanda.” It was the first book I remember being able to read by myself, and it was the moment where I realized I was much stronger than I thought.” The silhouettes and fabric of Vanda’s garments blend the harmonious use of puffy dresses, and structured but edgy necklines. There is such movement in the clothes that allows you to transport to the swirly clouds of stars, dust, and gas. The burning fabrics against the gleaming sequins are a fusion of the luminous balls of gas covered in a veil of lace. The use of boning helps shaping the silhouettes, giving them a sculptural and ethereal presence. The shapes include other cosmic elements such as the crescent moon, and the enormous empty space that is the galaxy.