Fashion and Location Emerging Designers Group Marcy Desroche, James Mason, Laura Harris, and Min Huh

The Emerging Designer Group compared the style of students from The Graduate Center with that of students from Bahir Dar in Ethiopia and students from Colman in Israel. We noticed both similarities and differences in the fashion choices from all of these groups.

The students pictured on the left are from Bahir Dar University in Ethiopia. We were surprised to observe how the female students dress in a way similar to many young, female Americans. Two of the students are pictured in jeans and t shirts. This could be viewed as a very “American” way of dressing. We also observed that these students dress in a very trendy way. Their age perhaps plays a role in the selection of items considered to be more trendy.

The female students pictured in this slide are from Colman in Israel. They dress in a way that is very similar to the female students from the Graduate Center. All of these students are enrolled in fashion related studies and appear to dress in a comparable way to one another. We assumed that perhaps the students field of study and personal interest in fashion impacted their fashion choices regardless of location.

The pictures above feature students and faculty from the Fashion Studies Program at The Graduate Center. We observed that the students dress in a very similar way to the Israeli students in the previous slide. Individuals in both groups wear comfortable, versatile clothing that they style in their own unique way.

The female students pictured here are from the Graduate Center. Unlike students previously pictured, these students are not fashion students. The student pictured on the left is studying Music Performance and the student on the right is studying Migration and Global Cities within the Liberal Studies Program at the Graduate Center. Like the previously pictured students, their clothing choices appear to be casual, comfortable and functional. Unlike members of the other groups, these students seem to dress in a more classic style.

SUMMARY Overall, we observed that the female students from Ethiopia, Israel, and New York dress in a very similar way. We especially noticed the similarities between the students enrolled in fashion studies and related disciplines. We also noticed that the female students enrolled in other graduate programs dress in a way that is stylish but perhaps less trendy. The Ethiopian students seemed to embrace trends more frequently than members of the other groups. This may be due to the difference in age between members of the Ethiopian group and members of the other groups.