SCAD's 2026 Student Runway Show Was Its Biggest Yet

The Savannah School of Artwork and Design (SCAD) might not be situated in a “large 4” trend capital, however its annual invite-only scholar runway occasion is on par with what you’d expertise at a serious trend week (or, dare I say, even higher). That expectation was met as soon as once more this 12 months: On Friday in Savannah, Georgia, press, professors, college students and business insiders took in a daring present, stuffed with imaginative seems to be pushing the boundaries of creativity.

The present started with a efficiency by break dancer Lil Buck (who was carrying a glance by graduating designer Noah Drew). Then got here the runway present, opened by Coco Rocha, a supermodel and coach to the SCAD scholar fashions.

The 2026 present was one among SCAD’s largest so far, spotlighting the work of greater than 60 designers chosen from the varsity’s largest-ever graduating class in trend design. Every of them introduced a three-piece assortment, leading to a virtually 200-look lineup.

Regardless of the massive cohort, the collections and their inspirations could not have been extra distinctive: Courtney Cope’s Victorian “comfortable goth” assortment was impressed by the emotional transition from childhood to maturity; Stella Beltranena made an eveningwear assortment referencing the architectural great thing about shells; Juliette Hamilton’s upcycled lineup referenced Swedish folklore; Valentina De Ponte created wearable variations of bags, impressed by migration; and Natalie Clickman used handbraiding strategies to honor her Center Japanese and Jewish tradition.

College students from SCAD’s Atlanta campus additionally bought their work spotlighted: Jinseo Park’s conceptual eveningwear line captured the hope and optimism to emerge from the chaos of South Korea’s 2024 candlelight vigil; Teresa Zacapa referenced the Rococo period via a cosmic futuristic lens; and Madison Osborne addressed the disaster and “informal racism” surrounding Hurricane Katrina by leaning into how her household overcame the hardship.

“A method we as a household bonded was by watching the Saints video games each Sunday,” Osborne tells Fashionista, referencing sport components in her assortment. “We’re speaking about one thing actually unhappy, but it surely’s additionally stunning and I wished to have enjoyable with this and pay homage to the place I am from and my household.”

Closing out the present had been eveningwear seems to be by six scholar designers who
had been every mentored by Lanvin‘s artistic director, Peter Copping.

“I actually really feel like SCAD will get neglected typically due to our location,” scholar designer Cope says. “So I hope you’ll be able to see the quantity of development that’s in every of those clothes and the way a lot work is put into each single individual’s assortment. I hope everybody can understand that there is a good mixture of conceptual and modern collections, but in addition method, performance, and development that again it up.”

Forward, see each look from SCAD’s 2026 Pupil Style Present.

Disclosure: SCAD paid for Fashionista’s journey and lodging to report this story.

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