Meet our student designers

The following students were chosen by our faculty jury for the 2025 Cornell Fashion + Design Expo for their innovation, design thinking and commitment to human thriving as it relates to our centennial theme: challenging convention in 2025.

This third annual event features 17 projects and the work of 25 designers from all areas of the department, including the majors of design and environmental analysis, fashion design and management and fiber science.

Individual projects

portrait of a young woman with long hair

Zoe Alvarez ’25 

Title: Aflora
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Blending the extravagance of Medellelín’s Flower Festival with function and practicality, this collection celebrates the natural body and cultural heritage through versatile, transformative garments. 
Email: zra5 [at] cornell.edu (zra5[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.zoealvarez.com

portrait of a person in a black button down shirt

Raquel Coren ’25

Title: Apokálypsis
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Apokálypsis merges military and medieval aesthetics, using the visual language of war to examine innovation, destruction, and the evolving utility of military dress in the age of modern warfare.  
Email: rpc232 [at] cornell.edu (rpc232[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: altraqapparel.com   

portrait of a young woman with long wavy hair

Lila Frost ’25   

Title: Reaching for a Vanished World
Major: Fashion Design 
Inspiration: This capstone fashion collection draws inspiration from the everyday lives of Central and Eastern European Jewry in the years preceding the Holocaust. 
Email: lcf46 [at] cornell.edu (lcf46[at]cornell[dot]edu)

portrait of a person wearing a headband

Iasia Amaya Tene Henderson ’25

Title: Curve-Centric: Redefining Style Norms 
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Empowering plus-size women through bold, flowy designs, redefining fashion norms with confidence, inclusivity and self-expression.
Email: hendersoniasia [at] gmail.com (hendersoniasia[at]gmail[dot]com)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/iasia-henderson-466726226/ 

portrait of a young woman wearing hoop earrings

Grace Honeyman ’25

Title: The Journey of Cotton: Transition to a Circular Economy
Major: Fiber Science
Inspiration: This project tackles textile waste by promoting textile collection sites and showcases chemical recycling of cotton textile waste. It aims to disrupt industry practices and advance textile recycling.
Email: gkh34 [at] cornell.edu (gkh34[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/grace-honeyman-7775571b6/

portrait of a person wearing a jacket and tie

Nikolas Martin ‘25

Title:  Self Sutures
Major: Fashion Design Management 
Inspiration: Self Sutures tells the story of Martin's life in phases from childhood to now. The collection explores this concept through skin, scars, and the body's natural process of healing itself.   
Email: nikolasmartin919 [at] gmail.com (nikolasmartin919[at]gmail[dot]com) 
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolas-martin-/

portrait of a person with short hair and a black shirt

Marcus McDermott ’25

Title: Bistable Auxetic Apparel   
Major: Fashion Design 
Inspiration: To what extent do designers or wearers determine the form of their garments? Computationally designed, these garments can adapt their form and remember how they're stretched during their wear.   
Email: mjm644 [at] cornell.edu (mjm644[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://dot.cards/mjmcd23

portrait of a person in a tank top

Gabrielle Moore ’25

Title: Anba Dlo  
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Bridging past and future, Anba Dlo blends ancient lore with speculative imagination, reinterpreting the histories of Caribbean and African diasporic culture. It speaks to resilience, migration, and veneration for those who lived — died and still live — by the water’s edge.   
Email: gam247 [at] cornell.edu (gam247[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://www.instagram.com/cityw3ar/

person with long hair in a black shirt

Kate Stiens ’27 

Title: Challenging Convention Through Process: Zero Waste Draping
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Through process comes unconventionality. The goal of this design was to combat the excessive amounts of cut-and-sew waste accumulated in the fashion industry.
Email: ks2354 [at] cornell.edu (ks2354[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: thriftedthreadsbykate.com

portrait of a person in a shaggy sweater

Zada Stuart ’25 

Title: Mother of the World
Major: Fashion Design
Inspiration: Using alternative materials, they take a critical view of the human-bovine relationship in relation to motherhood as well as identify hypothetical frameworks for environmentally conscious production.
Email: zks4 [at] cornell.edu (zks4[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://zadastuart.myportfolio.com/

smiling person in a black shirt

Margaret Tsai ’27

Title: THERMO/CHROMIC 
Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Inspiration: THERMO/CHROMIC explores thermochromic fabrics, which change color with heat. Inspired by ice skaters, it examines how movement transforms garments into a dynamic performance of kinetic art.
Email: mpt43 [at] cornell.edu (mpt43[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: margaret-tsai.com

smiling person with long hair

Margaret Watkins ’27 

Title: The Semantics of Style
Major: Fashion Design 
Inspiration: A bold exploration of language and fashion as tools for empowerment to transform gendered words with historically negative connotations into powerful symbols of passion, strength and empathy. 
Email: mlw333 [at] cornell.edu (mlw333[at]cornell[dot]edu) 
Web: margaret-watkins-designs.my.canva.site/

Group project: ANY Classroom

Any person, any study‚ ANY classroom. The team redesigned two “least, best” classrooms at Cornell to foster active learning, focusing on flexibility, inclusivity, and a unique sense of place. 

portrait of a person wearing glasses

Jiayi Guo '26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: jg2252 [at] cornell.edu (jg2252[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/jiayi-guo-designyourlife

portrait of a person in a button up shirt

Yucheng Shu ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: ys976 [at] cornell.edu (ys976[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/yucheng-shu/

portrait of a person with long hair

Basi Woldenberg ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: Bw486 [at] cornell.edu (Bw486[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://basiwoldenberg.my.canva.site/

Group project: LEAF LUMEN

Leaf Lumen is a multifaceted indoor air quality (IAQ) alarm and phytoremediation filtration system taking the form of a self-watering plant pot to improve health and productivity. 

portrait of a person with glasses wearing a dark jacket

Daniel (Yijie) Hsu ’27

Major: Architecture (AAP) 
Email: yh372 [at] cornell.edu (yh372[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hsu-360277318

portrait of a person with blonde hair wearing a blazer

Sofia Mattson

Degree: Master of Science in Human Environment Relations 
Email: smattson1229 [at] gmail.com (smattson1229[at]gmail[dot]com)
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-mattson-985017158

Group project: NEBULA

Nebula proposes an innovative design solution for an in-air hotel concept, focusing on local culture and connection to natural landscapes through immersive experiences and VR integration.

portrait of a person in a button up shirt

Yucheng Shu ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: ys976 [at] cornell.edu (ys976[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/yucheng-shu/

portrait of a person with long hair

Jill Zhang ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis 
Email: yz2678 [at] cornell.edu (yz2678[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/yiwen-zhang-92a287356

portrait of a person with long dark hair

Julia Zhang ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: lz429 [at] cornell.edu (lz429[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/julia-zhang-0a670323a/

Group project: NIMBUS by Haven

Haven reimagines the NIMBUS project with a lightweight, space-efficient luxury design using 3D-printed structures and organic forms, enhancing the hot air balloon hotel’s sleek and sustainable appeal. 

portrait of a person with blonde hair

Angie Ko ’26

Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: yk653 [at] cornell.edu (yk653[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-ko/

portrait of a person wearing a dark blazer and necklace

Connie Lu ’27

Major: Design and Environmental Analysis  
Email: rl793 [at] cornell.edu (rl793[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: https://readymag.website/u4132533357/5269344/

portrait of a person wearing a blazer

Lucille Xiaorui Wang ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: lw686 [at] cornell.edu (lw686[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: new.express.adobe.com/webpage/pZDjIQoHzfBMs

portrait of a person with long blonde hair

Shelly Wang ’26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: shellywwang [at] outlook.com (shellywwang[at]outlook[dot]com)
Web: shellywang.framer.website/

Group project: WeFrame

WeFrame is an interactive picture frame designed to help our community capture and relish more on-campus experiences by bridging the physical and virtual worlds with unique student-made Snapchat filter.

portrait of a person in a white tank top

Arden Van Hollebeke ‘26

Major: Design + Environmental Analysis
Email: amv82 [at] cornell.edu (amv82[at]cornell[dot]edu)
Web: ardenvanh.me/

portrait of a person wearing a sweater

Jennica Yoo ’27

Major: Fine Art (AAP) 
Email: jy652 [at] cornell.edu (jy652[at]cornell[dot]edu)