All Degrees & Programs
With over 35 majors and minor areas of concentration, Elmira College lays the foundation for a diverse, cross discipline education, encouraging you to both specialize and explore.
Erin McKenzie ’26 makes small adjustments to her Sculpture course project, a full-length skirt made from Vogue magazine pages.
When Erin McKenzie '26, a student in the Elmira College Tommy Hilfiger Fashion Business School (THFBS), faces a design challenge, she dives in with determination. Her love of sewing began when she was eight, and since then, she has continually challenged herself to design intricate and unique items. For her latest project, she spent months cutting, folding, and sewing hundreds of pages from Vogue magazines to create a skirt that will turn into a full-length, wearable couture dress. Delicate yet striking, the skirt and dress showcase her creativity and passion for design.
The idea for the dress started with a project for her First-Year Seminar course, Art, Design, and the Environment taught by Derek Chalfant, Professor of Art. In the foundational course that’s designed to spark creativity and critical thinking, McKenzie created a three-dimensional collage, covering styrofoam in pages cut out of Vogue to create a model-size skirt. When she turned it in, Chalfant had a different vision for the project.
“Professor Chalfant looked at me and said, ‘We should make it big,’” McKenize shared.
Image of McKenzie’s three-dimensional collage made in her FYS Art, Design, and the Environment course.
It wasn’t long before McKenzie took up Chalfant’s challenge to go big. Inspired by her model, she decided to expand the concept into a life-sized version for a new class project after attending a Sculpture course with Chalfant the following term. Students in the class had to create a sculpture using “found items” instead of purchased materials.
The project was in McKenzie’s wheelhouse as an avid upcycler of used fabrics. She made her first patchwork dress when she was nine or ten. She was also used to intricate design projects that required lots of repetitive work. She shared how, in high school, she spent six months designing and making a very complicated Chiffon dress. Chiffon is a particularly delicate fabric to work with. Based on the material and labor costs, McKenzie calculated the dress would have cost $1,000 to purchase.
McKenzie’s Chiffon dress took her six months to make when she was in high school.
Paper gave her a new medium to consider.
“Sustainability is important to me. I wanted to make a statement about how it doesn’t just come from reusing fabric. I love Vogue and I thought these magazines are too pretty to throw away. I wanted them to have a second life.”
To complete the project, McKenzie had to first design a pattern. She learned how to make patterns in the fashion design classes she took through BOCES, a vocational education program in New York State.
“The pattern was the easy part. How to make sure it didn’t rip apart was the hard part.”
McKenzie found some heavier canvas material that worked well as her base layer. She then worked out the rest of her process.
“I had a lot of Vogue magazines at home. I folded a page into a cone and then folded it in half. I sewed them along a test piece of fabric. I tried taping and then sewing but that made the needle sticky. It came down to just sewing them on there and hoping for the best.”
To make the dress, McKenzie rolls magazine pages into a cone and folds it in half before sewing it onto a piece of canvas.
Three months later, McKenzie finished the skirt portion of the dress, which includes hundreds of magazine pages. Even though the class has ended, McKenzie continues to work on the dress and develop the top that will complete the piece.
“I wanted to see if I could do it,” explained McKenzie. “When I was little I would sew for hours on end to see what I could do with no one helping me. I like to work out problems and see if I can find solutions.”
McKenzie wears the skirt to show how, despite being delicate, it is fully functional.
Despite her obvious love for design and fashion, McKenzie is careful about limiting her future career options. It’s why she wanted to learn about the business of fashion in the THFBS.
“I’d like to design for the rest of my life,” she shared. “But I don’t want to limit myself either. I love marketing and found a new love for the business of fashion. Design is something I get to do and I feel very lucky to do it.”
McKenzie’s balanced approach reflects her commitment to both creativity and the broader business landscape of fashion, positioning her to contribute in diverse and meaningful ways to the industry.