The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) presented ACT 5, the 2025 Fashion Design Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate runway show, spotlighting the collections of 18 upcoming designers. This culminating presentation in the days leading up to New York Fashion Week showcases each student’s individual journey through creativity, culture, and craft – all developed over two years in FIT’s dynamic Fashion Design MFA program.
FIT has been a leader in career education in art, design, business, and technology throughout its history. Providing its more than 8,000 students with a distinctive blend of hands-on, practical experience, theory, and a firm grounding in the liberal arts, the college offers a wide range of affordable programs that foster innovation and collaboration.
FIT’s Fashion Design MFA is the newest of seven programs in its School of Graduate Studies. In the two-year program, students conduct rigorous research that culminates in the creation of eight-look collections, thesis papers and presentations, videos, look books, brand business plans, and portfolios. Graduates leave the program prepared to make a positive impact as industry professionals by working within existing fashion companies or launching their own brands.
FIT
The designers shared the following collective statement: “Act 5 marks the closing chapter of our shared journey as FIT Fashion Design MFA students – a time defined by experimentation, introspection, and vision. Like the fifth act of a play, this moment is one of resolution, reflection, transformation, and revelation. Although we have arrived at this point through different stories and paths, we are bound by a shared purpose: to push fashion beyond the familiar and into the realm of dialogue. Each designer brings a distinct world to life, united by a desire to stretch the limits of what fashion can express – across memory, culture, technology, and form. From the deeply personal to the radically futuristic, our studio unfolds onto a stage – offering a view of who we have become and a bold introduction to what comes next. Together, we invite you to our final act as a class – not an ending, but the moment before the curtain lifts once more.”
“The 18-talented designers in our 2025 MFA Fashion Show prove that they are ones to watch in the world of global fashion,” said Dr. Joyce F. Brown, president of FIT. “Launching their inaugural collections as part of New York’s celebrated Fashion Week is a remarkable opportunity to showcase their talents before the biggest names in the business — and we are proud, for the second time, to be hosting the runway show right here on the FIT campus.”
“We are so proud to share the thesis collections of our 18 Masters of Fine Arts graduates during New York Fashion Week,” said Cathleen Sheehan, chairperson and professor, Fashion Design MFA Program, FIT. “The show represents the finale of their FIT journey as they launch their careers and join the ranks of our award-winning program alumni. We look forward to seeing what they do next.”
DESIGNERS: Yawen Chen, Runtan Desmond Du, Evelina Epp, Mai Nou Her, Ethan Horing, Layla Dian Jin, Luna Eunsol Kang, Mina Khademi, Genevieve Zhuoran Li, Jinling Li, Matilda Tongying Liang, Peng Han Beckham Lin, Lawson Park, Amrutha Ramkumar, Jackie Schmidt, Sanyam Sharma, Kiki Wanjing Zuo, Peichen Zhou
About FIT
A part of the State University of New York (SUNY), the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) has been a leader in career education in art, design, business, and technology throughout its history. Providing its more than 8,000 students with an uncommon blend of hands-on, practical experience, theory, and a firm grounding in the liberal arts, the college offers a wide range of affordable programs that foster innovation and collaboration. Its distinctive curriculum is geared to today’s rapidly growing creative economy, including fields such as computer animation, toy design, production management, film and media, and cosmetics and fragrance marketing. Internationally renowned, FIT draws on its New York City location to provide a vibrant, creative community in which to learn. The college offers nearly 50 majors and grants AAS, BFA, BS, MA, MFA, and MPS degrees, preparing students for professional success and leadership in the new creative economy. Among notable alumni in fashion are Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Reem Acra, Brian Atwood, Dennis Basso, Francisco Costa, Norma Kamali, Nanette Lepore, Bibhu Mohapatra, Ralph Rucci, John Bartlett, Peter Do, Daniel Roseberry, Victor Glemaud, Grace Chen, Randy Fenoli, Zaldy Goco, Ivy Ross, and Michelle Smith. Other prominent graduates include Leslie Blodgett, creator of bareMinerals; international restaurant designer Tony Chi; and Nina Garcia, editor in chief, ELLE. Visit fitnyc.edu.
Meet the Designers:
Yawen Chen – The Kiss of Time
Yawen Chen is a fashion designer whose work blends natural elegance and romanticism, redefining modern femininity. She specializes in layered structures and intricate fabrics, capturing movement and emotion in her designs. Inspired by nature, time, and traditional craftsmanship, she balances classic and contemporary elements, creating pieces with character and depth. Her designs emphasize fine detailing, textile innovation, and artistic expression. She earned both her BFA and MFA in Fashion Design from FIT.
Runtan Desmond Du – Undefined Deity
Runtan Desmond Du is a New York based fashion designer. He started studying at Parsons School of Design in 2018 and earned his MFA at FIT. Du’s label “run tan du” debuted during Shanghai Fashion Week in 2020 with its SS21 collection. Du is strongly inspired by cultures across the globe and his personal interests in history and archeology. He and his works are dedicated to anti-hate and world peace.
Evelina Epp – Destiny Lock
Evelina Epp is a German designer who spent her childhood moving frequently, attending eight different schools across three continents. This constant change fostered a deep appreciation for connections and relationships, which now serve as key inspirations in her work. She reflects her personal journey of distant relationships through shapes that encapsulate or create physical distance from the body, blending emotional depth with thoughtful garment construction. Her focus on silhouettes, textile exploration, and draping achieve a perfect balance between structural design and emotional expression.
Mai Nou Her – A Nou Nostalgia
Mai Nou Her is a Hmong-American womenswear designer who channels personal nostalgia into her designs. Deeply inspired by her journey with clothes and fashion from childhood to the present, she incorporates elements that evoke a sense of nostalgia. Growing up admiring the traditional garments that have been with her family for decades, she is committed to creating designs that withstand time and hold purpose for the wearer. Through her work, she seeks to bridge heritage and modernity, crafting pieces that honor the past while inspiring the future.
Ethan Horing – Among Friends
Ethan Horing is a New York native with a background bridging technology and design. He holds a BSE in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Fashion Design from FIT. His work reimagines traditional menswear by creatively mixing fabrics in unexpected ways – blending sophisticated colors and patterns for maximalist impact. Garment construction emphasizes craftsmanship, social responsibility, and slow fashion. Each piece values the unseen details, honoring the skill and artistry of the makers. The result is clothing that rewards a closer look – the longer you look, the more you see.
Layla Dian Jin – Pale Blue Dot
Layla Dian Jin is a Chinese fashion designer who earned an undergraduate degree in Art Marketing before pursuing her MFA in Fashion Design at FIT. Her work transforms abstract inspirations from the universe, philosophy and cultural history into visually striking and conceptually cohesive collections. By deconstructing and reconstructing Eastern and Western clothing structures, she explores the interplay between tradition and innovation. With expertise in fashion illustration, wearable sculpture, and textile manipulation, Jin pushes the boundaries of craftsmanship to create designs that challenge tradition while embracing artistic expression.
Luna Eunsol Kang – Echoes of Innocence
Luna Eunsol Kang is a fashion designer born in South Korea. With a multicultural background between South Korea and the United States, she uniquely blends influences from Asia and America. She was a 2023 finalist in the Arts Thread Global Design Graduate Competition and received honors from CFDA Runway360. Eunsol is highly skilled in craftsmanship, specializing in pattern making, sewing, beading, and fashion illustration. Her expertise spans from ready-to-wear to avant-garde haute couture, where she integrates her distinct design philosophy into every creation.
Mina Khademi – The Fourth Dimension
Recognized for synthesizing computational design principles with haute couture craftsmanship, Mina Khademi is a Persian-born fashion designer and MFA graduate from FIT. Her work bridges algorithmic rigor and organic movement while celebrating technical innovation. With expertise in translating avant-garde concepts into commercially viable collections for global markets, Khademi leverages advanced prototyping and parametric modeling to optimize design-to-production workflows. Her designs embody a philosophy where fashion intersects engineering – empowering wearers through precision, scalability, and artistry.
Genevieve Zhuoran Li – (Un) Professional Fabulous
Genevieve Zhuoran Li is a Chinese fashion designer redefining silhouettes through deconstructive construction and gender-fluid tailoring. Her work blends post-minimalism and subversive prints to explore psychology, individuality, and societal dynamics. With a strong foundation in patternmaking, she integrates historical and contemporary elements to challenge traditional power structures. Genevieve holds a BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and an MFA from FIT, both in Fashion Design, excelling in team leadership, emerging technologies, and cross-disciplinary collaboration while adapting to evolving industry trends.
Jinling Li – Celestial Reverie
Jinling Li is a Chinese fashion designer who earned an MFA in Fashion Design at FIT. Her work integrates futurism with a utilitarian edge. Jinling’s designs focus on precise construction and material innovation, transforming rigid three-dimensional structures into wearable forms. She navigates the space between ready-to-wear and avant-garde designs, balancing functionality with bold, structured silhouettes.
Matilda Tongying Liang – Motherhood
Matilda Tongying Liang is an avant-garde fashion designer whose work challenges conventional boundaries through experimental material play and conceptual depth. Drawing inspiration from the maternality of nature, the balance of tenacity and vulnerability found in motherhood, and the cyclical philosophies of traditional Chinese culture, her designs embody a compelling tension between strength and softness. Her work emphasizes craftsmanship and the emotional relationship between garment, body, and narrative—positioning clothing as a medium of storytelling and transformation.
Peng Han Beckham Lin – Bedtime Stories
Peng Han Beckham Lin is a Taiwanese fashion designer and fiber artist pursuing an MFA in Fashion Design at FIT. A SCAD graduate with a BFA in Fashion Design, he explores culture, inclusivity, and fabric manipulation through bold, expressive designs. Influenced by global experiences and a passion for storytelling, Beckham’s work fuses heritage with innovation. His design celebrates individuality and new masculinity, empowering wearers to embrace their identity confidently and creatively.
Lawson Park – Tiled Treasures
Lawson Park is a textile and womenswear designer whose styles exude joy. Raised in Charlotte, NC by artist parents, she developed a lifelong love for color and craftsmanship. After earning her BA at UNC-Chapel Hill in Advertising, PR, and Design, she spent a year gaining industry experience before pursuing her MFA in Fashion Design at FIT. Lawson has channeled that passion into founding Brooks Avenue, where painterly prints — from sun-drenched florals to whimsical motifs — blend vintage charm with modern ease in feminine silhouettes.
Amrutha Ramkumar – KALYANAM
Amrutha Ramkumar is an Indian fashion designer with a unique perspective shaped by her experience as a third-culture child having been born and brought up in different places. While earning her MA in Design at FIT, where she refined her aesthetics by focusing on women’s streetwear. Her work bridges traditional Indian craftsmanship with contemporary streetwear, often repurposing luxurious sarees into innovative designs. As the first woman in her family to study abroad, she is driven to empower Indian artisans, especially women, through fair and respectful production practices.
Jackie Schmidt – Emergence
Jackie Schmidt is a found materials fashion and accessory designer from Los Angeles, California. She received her Bachelors from the Art Institute of Chicago and MFA from FIT focusing on creating sustainable garments from found objects and upcycled materials including aluminum cans and soda tabs. She then transforms the materials into wearable art pieces, filled with lots of colors and fun textures that will make heads turn when entering a room.
Sanyam Sharma – Therefore, I Am.
Sanyam Sharma is an India-born fashion designer whose work seamlessly combines creativity, philosophy, and artistic expression with accessibility. Her designs transform personal and emotional experiences into wearable narratives using fashion as a medium for storytelling and exploring the essence of being. Sharma has worked with Michael Kors, Prabal Gurung, and Hellessy. She graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology. Sharma earned an AAS and MFA in Fashion Design from FIT.
Kiki Wanjing Zuo – Precognitive
Kiki Wanjing Zuo is a Fashion Design MFA graduate from FIT, specializing in blending high-tech elements, biomimicry, and reconstruction into ready-to-wear fashion. Her work explores abstract, ethereal concepts inspired by nature, architecture, and futuristic aesthetics. Kiki combines intricate fabric manipulation, innovative technology, and fluid yet structured designs. She employs 3D printing, optical illusions, and biomimetic structures to push the boundaries of wearable art. Kiki has collaborated with GAP X Balenciaga, NIKE, and Blizzard, showcasing her ability to merge craftsmanship, futuristic techniques, and storytelling.
Peichen Zhou – Heartstring
As a creative fashion designer, Zhou creates original work combining art and human body science. Inspired by medicine, realism, and the human structure, her designs respect life. Combining artistic abstraction with a solid basis in pragmatic, helpful applications, she often uses non-fabric materials in her creative process to create visually striking designs that push fashion boundaries and welcome invention. She also works using three-dimensional printing technologies. Zhou studied fashion design at the Rhode Island School of Design for her BFA and FIT for her MFA.
##
