As the Covid-19 pandemic shuttered schools and universities nationwide, those studying fashion had to move their senior thesis from the runway over to the home. Fashion periodical WWD recently showcased the thesis of Academy Alumni Zoe Grinfield (class of 2016) who is graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design.
In a thesis, titled “Family Portrait,” Grinfeld chose to explore themes of home, family and coming of age. Her first three fashion designs portray the roles of mother, father, and grandmother. The next set, (shown below) is an evolution of life from child to adulthood. “I wanted it to read like they were different people but that they could also be the same person kind of growing over time” she explains.
To create these pieces, Zoe took to using digital prints, old denim, household materials, and in the case of the father piece, scraps of her own father’s Hawaiian shirts.
Zoe Grinfield has been recognized various times over the years. Her designs have been showcased in Seventeen Magazine, Hartford Magazine, and Connecticut Fashion. She had showings at the Wadsworth Atheneum, and Rhode Island’s Gellman Gallery. In 2019, she was recognized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for a dress she made out of doll heads. At age 15, she was the winner of Lifetime’s “Project Runway Threads.”
As a student at the Academy, she designed costumes for the spring musical Carousel among others. She graduated in 2016 and lives in Colchester.
Watch the interview
here.
View Zoe Grinfeld's Portfolio here.