Emily Nash

Editor's note: For two weeks, Fashionably Cleveland is paying homage to up-and-coming local designers. Each story subject is a graduating senior at Kent State University, and each story is written by another KSU student. Keep an eye out for these emerging fashion designers - you'll surely be hearing more about them in the future.

Re:CREATE, The Annual Spring Fashion Show was held Saturday April 24, at Kent State University, featuring designs from over 60 fashion design students. One of those students was senior fashion design student Emily Nash.

Nash’s models worked the runway in her collection that was inspired by a dark, gothic Paris setting. Typically Nash likes to use brighter colors for her pieces, but for this collection it was all black. 

“I like to create fun, feminine pieces,” Nash said. “I love to mix unique fabrics and textures.”

Nash feels she is always inspired by travels for her collections and that living in London for a year definitely influenced her personal style and this collection. 

“I keep myself in mind when I’m designing, but occasionally I design things so crazy even I wouldn’t wear them!,” Nash said.

After graduation, Nash hopes to move to New York City and work in a creative position. 

“My dream job would be creative director for a large fashion house, like Chanel, but I would settle for working for myself,” Nash said.

She would like for her target customer to be fashion forward, young and feminine - someone who isn’t afraid of color.

Nash has interned with one of her favorite designers, Betsey Johnson. Some of her other favorites include Balmain, Sonia Rykiel, Monique Lhullier and Marc Jacobs.

Nash has loved fashion ever since she was younger and has known for a while that she wanted to design.

“I always loved shopping when I was young and putting together my outfits at Limited Too, but it wasn’t until high school that I started to really love and follow fashion,” Nash said.

The one thing that sets her apart from other designers is her experimentation and having as much fun as possible with what she does.

“I don’t think fashion should be taken too seriously,” she said.

Sunday, May 9, 2010