Teacher Galleries: Inspired Style KCAD Student Fashion Exhibition

The following gallery showcases artifacts found in Inspired Style, a collaborative fashion project between the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) and Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University’s (KCAD) Pamella Roland DeVos School of Fashion. For this project, student fashion designers from the class Fashion Design: Fashion Archaeology (KCFS 310) visited the GRPM Archives and each selected a historic garment they were inspired by. The GRPM preserves more than 10,000 clothing and accessory pieces from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries for exhibition and educational use.

Archaeology can be defined as the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. Students were asked to excavate and evaluate the deep-rooted influences on fashion throughout history by using the GRPM clothing archives. They researched their pieces and were inspired by the society and culture they were originally created as well as historic sewing, textiles and details. Inspired Style showcases the work of student fashion designers paired with the GRPM garment that influenced their project.