Among glamorous dresses for a night out and battle gear for cyberpunk video game characters, one collection at Fashion Week Brooklyn’s Young Designers Runway stood out — bursting with flowers, honoring cultural heritage and designed by a Steinhardt junior.
The Wednesday runway in Bedford-Stuyvesant featured eight designers, including Lexi Fujita, who debuted her “Omiyage” collection of 14 looks fusing traditional Japanese wear with Hawaiian elements. The Studio Art major was among six designers selected from her residency program with Materials for the Arts, a nonprofit organization and reuse center that provides arts educators and local organizations with secondhand supplies.
The collection — whose name refers to a Japanese tradition of bringing back souvenirs from travels — is a gift from Hawaii to New York City, said Fujita, who is both Japanese American and was raised in Oahu.
“I have both of those cultures that have helped me grow into who I am, and it really shapes what I do, what I say, what I wear,” Fujita told WSN. “I felt like [this collection] would be a great way to share that [in] New York, where people from Hawaii may not have that anymore.”
Fujita’s experience in design traces back to high school, where she studied mixed media and sculpture. There she developed a love for creating art from found objects — resources within her surroundings — which she has since utilized as a fashion designer, particularly in “Omiyage.”
In the collection, Fujita showcased a cream bandeau top with tiers of draped tassels sourced from MFTA. Fujita said the tassels remind her of her grandparents’ couch pillows in Hawaii, creating a home-like sense of familiarity.
“I am building my collection off of what I find, rather than sketches,” Fujita said. “If I draw up something, I’m going to try to find something that looks similar, but if I don’t, I want it to happen organically.”
Fujita also put out a casting call on social media for New York City models with Hawaiian roots or Japanese American heritage. Tandon sophomore Colby Kitagawa wore a cyanotype-print happi coat with work pants like those of Japanese plantation workers in Hawaii. Fujita’s collection resonated with Kitagawa, whose grandmother often tells him stories of working on a plantation cutting pineapples.
CAS sophomore Hannah Weintraub, who wore a tan and white bikini set adorned with birds and paradise and hibiscus flowers, said that she responded to Fujita’s casting call because she wanted to feel the sense of community she remembered having when she lived in Hawaii.
“Hawaii is so small that everyone knows each other and it feels like family,” Weintraub told WSN. “It’s like that community feeling is brought from Hawaii to New York.”
Honoring multiple generations of Japanese Americans in her family, Fujita crafted this collection into a symbol of respect for her heritage. She brings familiar tokens from her childhood in Oahu to the Brooklyn runway, channeling the essence of home into her artistic presence.
“I am not only looking at memories and collections, but also moments in my life that relate to the culture,” Fujita said. “I am trying to appreciate it and create the collection with the right intentions of the culture that raised me into who I am.”
Contact Yuuki Lubin at [email protected].