Elena Sanders, Recent Mount Ida Graduate, Featured in Fashion Week
October 23, 2009
Gas masks, rusty gears, aviator goggles, and clock parts on the runway? As long as you know what you're doing, why not? Up-and-coming fashion designer Elena Sanders, who graduated from Mount Ida College in May 2009, definitely knows what she's doing, and the display of her designs as part of Boston's Fashion Week was a validation of her talent and unique vision.
"Elena is extremely creative," says Phyllis Misite, Professor of Fashion Design. "Her work has a real sense of humor. It's completely imaginative. I could see that from the first day she came to Mount Ida. Her designs are costume-like, but also very wearable. I believe her age group would be most receptive to them."
The goal of Boston Fashion Week, an annual event founded in 1995, is to increase the visibility and viability of the local fashion industry. The series of fashion-related events held throughout Greater Boston and beyond connects established industry professionals and allows aspiring newcomers to showcase their work. Sanders is one such newcomer. She grew up as an Army brat all over Texas and came to Mount Ida College at the suggestion of her aunt, who lives in Boston. "I was originally going just for the associate degree, but switched to the baccalaureate program on the advice of one of my professors," says Sanders.
Sanders' designs were featured in "The Launch," a fashion show held at the Boston Center for Adult Education on the afternoon of September 27th. "The Launch" cast a spotlight on five of the city's most promising up-and-coming designers. In its September 24th edition, the Boston Globe cited Sanders' inclusion in the "The Launch."
Looking ahead, Sanders is weighing her love of costume design and fashion design. She has held an internship at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence and is currently working with Shakespeare Now Theatre Company on a production of Macbeth that is set in a slaughterhouse. Whichever direction she pursues, Sanders will continue to unearth ideas from a wide range of sources. "I take a lot of inspiration from history and from my weird dreams and from cultures and sub-cultures," she says. "I like to explore things I'm afraid of. A lot of emotion goes into that."