Kristin Rose presents the only menswear line at this year's Senior Fashion Show.

Kristin Rose loves every part of the fashion design process and when she says every part, she really means every part.

“From researching trends, building mood boards, concept sketching, pattern drafting, draping, picking out amazing fabrics, getting anxiety over having to cut into those fabrics, and then looking at my finished piece on a form or a body; it’s all incredible!” she says.

While the entire process may seem overwhelming, Kristin also notes that it’s exhilarating, especially when a piece is completed and you get see what all the hard work and dedicated hours created.

“Being able to see the design done is amazing,” she says. “I can stand back and say, ‘Wow, I made that. That was my idea and now it’s a three-dimensional piece on a person.’”

While every designer’s collection was different this year, Kristin was the only one to create a menswear line.

“I’ve always been interested in menswear, but more than anything I wanted to challenge myself,” said Kristin. “I dabbled in it in advance tailoring and just decided to try it on my own and it worked.”

Kristin created three-separate looks for the show, each with three separate pieces that included a pant, shirt, and a coat. The culmination of her collection is the not one, but two double-faced cashmere wool coats. Working with this type of fabric required countless hours of pre-work before she could even think about sewing her designs.

“I had never taken on a challenge like this before, but I absolutely loved it. It was incredibly time consuming and made me think outside the box on how to finish seams and edges,” she remembers. “The amount of hand-sewing and attention to detail was just what I needed to stay challenged and focused.”

Kristin's collection includes two coats using this double-faced cashmere.

Although Kristin knew from the beginning she wanted to do menswear, she still searched for inspiration in her muses. One inspired her color palette, the other offered definition, structure and confirmation of the masculinity she wanted her collection to convey. Her final inspirations included the post impressionistic paintings of Vincent Van Gogh and the romantic bronze sculptures of William Rimmer.

“Van Gogh’s paintings have this sense of rough beauty defined by an unmatched sense of bold color that turns a flat canvas into a deep and dimensional work of art,” notes Kristin. “
I chose William Rimmer’s bronze sculptures because of the masculinity he was able to convey. The incredible detail of muscle definition, for instance in 
”Fighting Lions” blew me away.”

Her love of Rimmer’s bronze work easily mixed with the vibrant reds and golds from Van Gogh’s works and became part of Kristin’s final color palette.

In the end all three of Kristin’s presented looks will find their way to the runway on May 11.  It’s the true finale for everything she and the rest of her classmates have been through over the course of their studies.

“As a fashion major you look forward to this year for three years, but you never think of how many hours you will spend drafting and redrafting patterns or making samples because you are afraid to mess up your expensive fabric,” she says. “Getting the opportunity to showcase things that I designed and created is in itself incredible, but I’m just proud that I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to showcase my collection.”

Be sure to get your tickets soon so that you can be part of Kristin and the other designer’s “finale”.

The jury. Photo by Lian Dziura (CCAD 2012).

The jury results are in and 15 designers will show their collections (more than 50 garments total) at the 2012 Senior Fashion Show. The designers were allowed to show up to six garments at the judging on March 1, after which the jury recommended the final  garments that should be in the show.

This year the designers were asked to find inspiration for their collection from both painters and sculptors. The works had to be produced in the same era and the artists had to be working prior to the mid 20^th century.

Below is a list of the participating designers and their collection inspiration. If you want to see their garments walk down the runway, you better get your tickets soon. (Prices go up March 15.)

1.) Tasha Naneth Bolton
Painter: Albert Henrich, “Still Life with Hat and Collar”
Sculptor: Axel Erlandson, “The Basket Tree”

2.) Rachel Cass
Painter: Salvador Dali
Sculptor: Louise Bourgeois

3.) Tasha Dircksen
Painter: Max Ernst, “33 Little Girls Chasing Butterflies”
Sculptor: Rudolph Belling, “Bluetenmotiv”

4.) Alyssa Johnson
Painter: Gustav Klimt, “Water Serpents I”
Sculptor: Boleslas Biegas, “The Haunted House”

5.) Rachel Kaplan
Painter: Georgia O’Keeffe, “Red Canna”
Sculpture: Umberto Boccioni, “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space”

6.) Sarah Pruden
Painter: Salvador Dali
Sculptor: Louise Nevelson

7.) Skyler Riggins
Painter: Georges Braque, “Man with a Guitar”
Sculptor: Barbara Hepworth, “Group of Three Magic Stones”

8.) Kristin Rose
Painter: Vincent Van Gogh
Sculptor: William Rimmer

9.) Nuonan Ruan
Painter: Chu Teh-Chun

10.) Annika Simmons
Painter: Jean Honore Fragonard, “Stolen Kiss”

11.) Amanda Mae Smith
Painter: Alphonse Mucha, “La Blonde”
Sculptor:  Antoni Gaudi, Barcelona’s Park Guell

12.) Joella Stallard
Painter: Max Ernst, “The Blind Swimmer”
Sculptor: Constantine Brancusi, “Bird in Space”

13.) Jennifer Tang
Painter: Wassily Kandinsky
Sculptor: Edward Erikson

14.) Michele Watson
Painter: Yinka Shonibare
Sculptor: Armand Fernandez

15.) Shirley Weng
Painter: Francis Picabia
Sculptor: Nanm Gabo