2023 MILL Fashion Show Winners

The MILL Textiles L&D Team has spent the semester learning about garment construction, from designing to pattern drafting to choosing fabrics all the way to learning how to sew and make clothes. What better way to highlight what they have learned than having a fashion show? Twelve teams, consisting of students from various majors, from MSE to CS to LMC, participated in the MILL Fashion Show organized by Helen Liu and the Textiles Learning & Discovery Team, with help from the MILL Executive Leadership.

Professor Sundaresan Jayaraman and Principle Research Scientist Sungmee Park, both with strong textile experience, judged the event. Winners were selected for Most Creative, Most Innovative, Best Overall, and two People's Choice Awards.

  • Aarya Doshi, 1st year CS, received the first People's Choice with a silk cowl neck slip dress with a lace up back. The fabric for this dress was purchased at a thrift store.
  • Jenny Gerber, 2nd year MSE, received the second People's Choice Award created the pattern for her tulle and cotton dress. She plans to wear it to the Taylor Swift Eras tour later this month!
  • The Most Innovative Award went to the Science of Art L&D Team consisting of Grace Godwin, 3rd year MSE, Alexa Brammer, 3rd year MSE, Divya Iyer, 2nd year MSE, Riley Butcher, 3rd year MSE, and modeled by Natalia Cusson, 5th year ChBE. The stained-glass dress incorporated 45 individual pieces of hand-curated glass that were painstakingly soldered and linked to illustrate how both a team and different materials can come together as one.
  • Shreya Paliwal, 1st year CS, received Most Creative Award for cargo pants with a lace panel around the thighs. The pants were made by harvesting fabric from thrifted men’s slacks. The red lace panel matcher her black, white, and red vampire aesthetic.
  • Helen Liu, 3rd MSE, received Best Overall, with a combination of Intarsia hand knitting and duplicate stitching over panels made on the knitting machine, modeled by Emma Zeng, 1st year LMC. The sweater vest, inspired by an album cover, is a modern interpretation of a classic knit style. After experimenting with 3D printing on mesh fabric last year, this knitted piece pays homage to a more traditional method of decorating a textile piece.