Senior collections ready for RUNWAY

Rachel Mazur's collection, "Keep on Stepping," is sustainably sourced, using items and fabrics found in thrift stores. Photo courtesy of Rachel Mazur

This year, the seniors have truly outdone themselves ahead of RUNWAY 2025. The undergraduate show will take place Friday, April 25 and the senior collections will be modeled the following night.

Senior fashion design and production students must create a seven-look collection as their final project at Lasell, and many of their collections exemplify great insight into current fashion trends while also implementing their own personal touch into their final project. These collections are a way for senior students to display the skills they’ve developed during their time at Lasell and leave a lasting impact on the school of fashion. Some things that come to mind when creating these collections are the process. Within this process is coming up with a target audience; a specific person or group that the collection will resonate with the most.

Rachel Mazur’s collection is no exception. When designing her collection, she first came up with a persona, Reva Greenfield. Reva is based off of Mazur herself, and she has a deep care for “1970s retro style, vintage shopping, and DIY fashion.” The entirety of the collection is based around the idea of a capsule wardrobe that best reflects Reva’s taste for minimizing waste and celebrating the 1970s style. Mazur also mentioned that the collection is a representation of her dream wardrobe.

The materials found in Mazur’s collection are all sustainably sourced. Some of the fabrics included are from items that were found in thrift stores, like bedsheets and curtains. This makes Mazur’s collection entirely unique, as is her use of the Eastern Swallowtail butterfly that is incorporated into each look.

“Practicality and functionality are always at the forefront of my designs,” Mazur said.

The idea behind Mazur’s wardrobe is simple. Versatility is something that is constantly at the back of her head. Whether it’s a chilling New England night with banks of snow lining the roads or a breezy spring afternoon in the mid 50s, Mazur loves the idea of having multiple pieces of clothing for different occasions.

All in all, she is excited to share the collection with the school and the world. The phrase “keep on stepping” is something that Mazur continuously thought of while designing her collection. The clothing is a true reflection of this phrase, coined in the 70s.

Another senior who has worked tirelessly to visualize her own collection is Lillian Stackhouse. Stackhouse is feeling many emotions going into the show, the biggest of which is excitement. The thought of seeing her models stroll along the runway wearing garments fashioned by none other than herself is what has kept her going.

Lillian Stackhouse's senior collection is inspired by her hometown of Charleston, S.C. Photo courtesy of Lillian Stackhouse

The audience she imagined while creating her collection is simple: nostalgia. The collection was designed to resonate most with “anyone who’s ever missed their childhood home.” Stackhouse used Claude Monet’s “Water Lilies” for inspiration, as well as her hometown of Charleston, S.C. Monet was the starting point, and envisioning a way to replicate his use of soft and blurry brushstrokes onto clothing was where Stackhouse went next.

The most common fabric in Stackhouse’s collection is cotton bed sheets. Stackhouse was able to replicate the dreamy and comfortable childlike feel with the use of many colors and puffy dresses. Imagine strolling through a garden in the middle of spring, your sneakers pressing into the damp grass, birds chirping, and the winds rustling through the trees. There are no worries. This is at the heart of Stackhouse’s collection, and is one of the many visions that audiences can expect to see at RUNWAY 2025.