Fashion Design Students’ Wear LACMA Garments Sell Out at Auction

Created as part of a mentor project, the garments were inspired by works from LACMA’s permanent collection.

The work of Otis College Fashion Design students recently was on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) during an event in which garments they had created for last spring’s O-Launch fashion show were auctioned off, with proceeds going directly to each designer. By the end of the evening, each of the nine garments, as well the custom-designed t-shirts the students had created, had sold. They were priced between $50 or $100 for a tee and between $850 and $1,900 for the garments, which included dresses, separates, and streetwear.

The event was the culmination of a mentor project with Katherine Ross, a member of Otis’s Board of Governors who also heads the Wear LACMA program, in which designers produce unique art-inspired garments and products featuring art from LACMA’s permanent collection. Since the project’s inception in 2012, the list of designers who have participated in Wear LACMA include Cathy Waterman, Clare V., George Esquivel, Irene Neuwirth, JC Obando, Jennifer Meyer, Libertine, Monique Lhuillier, Oliver Peoples, and Rodarte, among others. 

Jennifer McCormick, who is a Trustee of Otis College as well as a member of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Acquisition Committee, cohosted the Wear LACMA event with Ross and Jill Zeleznik, the Chair of the Fashion Design program. 

For her mentor project Ross enlisted the help of Grant Breding, an Associate Vice President of Retail and Merchandising at LACMA. Together, Ross and Breding visited Otis Fashion Design students for sketch selection and several fittings in the lead-up to the fashion show that was held last May. 

“We have been doing the Wear LACMA project with Los Angeles-based designers since 2012, so we had an idea of how things would go with the student project. However, what we did not expect was the incredible creativity and special artistry that each student would bring to the garments,” Ross says. “As a designer it’s important to find inspiration and find different ways and details to express something that excites you in a collection. Sometimes the inspiration is literal and sometimes it is more abstract. I hope as the students move along in their studies and careers that they remember this project with LACMA. Grant and I loved working with them.”

One of the hallmarks of Otis College’s BFA Fashion Design program is the mentor project. Each year, prominent designers and stylists guide the junior and senior classes on various projects that are based around sportswear, sustainability, evening wear, or other categories in the fashion industry. Following the mentors’ design direction, students undergo a rigorous process to refine the conceptual basis of their projects, receiving weekly guidance from faculty. Mentors assess the students’ work through critiques during design development, sketch selection, and fittings, sharing their professional expertise to inspire innovative thinking, new construction ideas, and insights into the design process. The final projects are unveiled every spring at the fashion show that is part of O-Launch exhibition weekend at Otis College. 

For the Wear LACMA project, Otis juniors were challenged to create a limited-edition collection based on artworks from LACMA’s permanent collection, one that includes over 120,000 objects from all over the world dating from antiquity to the present. Erin Bond (’25 Fashion Design) took inspiration from Peter Behrens’s Untitled (The Kiss) and its Art Nouveau style for her flowy dress. Shota Higuchi (’25 Fashion Design) used scenes from a Japanese Ukiyo-e print from the 1850s to make a dress and neck piece that fuse traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary fashion. Ethan Prins (’25 Fashion Design), who is the inaugural Mandy Einstein Fashion Scholarship recipient, emblazoned Henri Charles Guerard’s Monkey’s Hand print all over a sleek, backless dress and matching coat. 

“A monkey’s hand felt existential, foreign, but beautiful and complex. I saw something aggressively modern in the print, even opportunity in texture,” Prins explained of his artwork selection and resulting garment. 

For Zeleznik, being able to explore the intersection of art and design was crucial to this mentor project. “I am profoundly grateful for the unparalleled mentorship of both Katherine Ross and Grant Breding,” she says. “Katherine came to this project with over 20 years of experience in fashion, PR, and communications. Through her innovative Wear LACMA program she has opened doors for our students, granting them a remarkable opportunity to engage directly with artists’ work and draw inspiration from it, fostering a true celebration of the harmonious relationship between fashion and art.” 

Through the event and with the support of the Wear LACMA team, the students were able to recoup the costs on the sublimation printing used for their garments, which is notably expensive. They also had a chance to connect with the broader art, fashion, and design community.

“The students were thrilled and deeply grateful for the chance to sell their unique designs and connect with the generous patrons of LACMA,” says Zeleznik. “This visionary mentorship project beautifully encapsulated the essence of Los Angeles, highlighting the voices of our young designer artists that resonate deeply within our community.” 

More information about the Fashion Design program. 

More photos from the Wear LACMA event below.

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