Social Justice and Sustainable Fashion at the CCS Fashion Show

The College for Creative Studies (CCS) showcased final student-designed collections at “The Show,”—the second annual fashion show—last week in the Alfred Taubman Center for Design and Education.

The show featured the final collections of talented and emerging designers of apparel and accessories. The

STUART WEITZMAN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH CCS

Show reconciles fashion with sustainability and elevates themes of social justice while bringing a flair of creativity and style in a unique multi-media experience.

Additionally on show, were student-designed shoes from a CCS Stuart Weitzman partnership. Luxury

footwear brand Stuart Weitzman announced its partnership with the CCS Fashion Design program in 2021. The educational partnership — a first for the brand — features a semester-long studio course where students research, ideate, design, and handbuild prototypes for their vision of a future Stuart Weitzman collection.

AKI CHOKLAT INTRODUCING CCS’ THE SHOW 2022

Aki Choklat, Chair of Fashion Design at CCS, led students to design for the consumer of 2030 to 2035.

These types of experiential learning opportunities are an essential part of our teaching philosophy, Choklat said. Students not only get invaluable feedback and experience from the top professionals, but they also get to see what their future workplace could be. Stuart Weitzman and their team opened their doors and shared their professional guidance with us, this is something that I am forever grateful for.

Detroitisit interviewed three of the designers to get their perspectives on fashion in Detroit.

DANTE ASSAD – LEATHER ARTISAN AT SHINOLA, FASHION ACCESSORIES DESIGN, CCS

DANTE ASSAD DESIGNS AT CCS 2022

Q. What does fashion mean to you?

JA’MAIYA RYAN – FASHION ACCESSORIES DESIGN, CCS

JA’MAIYA RYAN DESIGNS AT CCS 2022

Q. What does fashion mean to you?

A. It’s subjective, it is whatever makes you feel good and confident with whom you are—that is what inspired many of my collections.

A. It is constantly evolving, it is a hidden gem, but it needs to be a well-known gem, there’s always creativity in every single square foot in the city.

STEVEN WOZNICKI – FASHION ACCESSORIES DESIGN, COLLEGE FOR CREATIVE STUDIES

STEVEN WOZNICKI DESIGNS AT CCS 2022

Q. What does fashion represent to you?

A. Fashion to me is more modern, it should be something that you can use to express who you are and be free.

Q. Why do you believe the fashion industry should be paying attention to Detroit?

A. Detroit has a lot of history; there are a lot of designers here who are talented. It is a tight community in which we all treat each other like family.