Packing peanuts, trash bags, and Q-tips are generally not thought of as “fashionable". However, they do make a prominent appearance on the runway at the Annual Design X fashion show. Design X features garments made in the Problem Solving class by fashion design junior and senior students. In this class, students receive very open and abstract starting points, as well as time, budget, and material constraints. Usually, there is a $20 or less limit for budget, and generally, looks contain little to no fabric. For other projects, students practice sustainable thinking and create a “zero-waste” look from only recycled and re-purposed garments. These constraints require students to think outside the box to create something visually striking, but that also still fills the requirement of a body covering.
Problem solving assignment briefs are very vague. One brief instructs students to visit either the zoo or the aquarium and find a fish or animal to serve as their inspiration. Other projects send students to the thrift store with $20 budgets and instruct them to look for garments to deconstruct and re-purpose. A more challenging project brief gives students certain words and descriptors that the student must then use as inspiration. For example, a student brief for this project may be “yellow, asymmetrical, quiet, with an emphasis on the torso”. Inspired by these words, the student then finds an image of yellow flowers with asymmetrical petals that serve as a further source of inspiration for them.
