The following students were chosen by our faculty jury for this year’s 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 & environmental analysis, fashion design & management and fiber science. 

Individual projects

Zoe Alvarez

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@cornell.edu
Web: www.zoealvarez.com

Raquel Coren

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@cornell.edu
Web: altraqapparel.com   

Lila Frost

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@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/lila-frost-b1a228228/ 

Iasia Henderson

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@gmail.com
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/iasia-henderson-466726226/

Grace Honeyman

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@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/grace-honeyman-7775571b6/

Nikolas Martin

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@gmail.com 
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikolas-martin-/

Marcus McDermott

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@cornell.edu
Web: https://dot.cards/mjmcd23

Gabrielle Moore

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@cornell.edu
Web: https://www.instagram.com/cityw3ar/

Kate Stiens

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@cornell.edu 
Web: thriftedthreadsbykate.com     

Zada Stuart

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@cornell.edu 
Web: https://zadastuart.myportfolio.com/ 

Margaret Tsai

Margaret Tsai ’27  
Title: THERMO/CHROMIC  
Major: Design and 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@cornell.edu
Web: margaret-tsai.com 

Margaret Watkins

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@cornell.edu 
Web: margaret-watkins-designs.my.canva.site/

 

Group projects

 

ANY Classroom
Inspiration: 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. 

Jiayi Guo

Jiayi Guo '26   
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis   
Email: jg2252@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/jiayi-guo-designyourlife

Yucheng Shu

Yucheng Shu ’26 (also NEBULA)
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis   
Email: ys976@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/yucheng-shu/

Basi Woldenberg

Basi Woldenberg ’26
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis   
Email: Bw486@cornell.edu
Web: https://basiwoldenberg.my.canva.site/

 

LEAF LUMEN
Inspiration: 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. 

Daniel (Yijie) Hsu

Daniel (Yijie) Hsu ’27
Major: Architecture (AAP) 
Email: yh372@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-hsu-360277318

Sofia Mattson

Sofia Mattson 
Degree: Master of Science in Human Environment Relations 
Email: smattson1229@gmail.com
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sofia-mattson-985017158

 

NEBULA
Inspiration: 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.

Jill Zhang

Jill Zhang ’26 
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis 
Email: yz2678@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/yiwen-zhang-92a287356

Julia Zhang

Julia Zhang ’26   
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: lz429@cornell.edu
Web: www.linkedin.com/in/julia-zhang-0a670323a/

 

NIMBUS by Haven
Inspiration: 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. 

Angie Ko

Angie Ko ’26   
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: yk653@cornell.edu
Web: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-ko/

Connie Lu

Connie Lu ’27 
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis  
Email: rl793@cornell.edu
Web: https://readymag.website/u4132533357/5269344/

Lucille Xiaorui Wang

Lucille Xiaorui Wang ’26
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: lw686@cornell.edu
Web: new.express.adobe.com/webpage/pZDjIQoHzfBMs

Shelly Wang

Shelly Wang ’26
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: shellywwang@outlook.com
Web: shellywang.framer.website/

 

WeFrame
Inspiration: 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.

Arden Van Hollebeke

Arden Van Hollebeke ‘26 
Major: Design and Environmental Analysis
Email: amv82@cornell.edu
Web: ardenvanh.me/

Jennica Yoo

Jennica Yoo ’27 
Major: Fine Art (AAP) 
Email: jy652@cornell.edu
Web: jennicayooartanddesign.my.canva.site