All of the contestants were full of stage presence and sass.

This weekend was Queer Coalition Vassar College’s annual Flawless Extravaganza. As expected, it was a huge demonstration of gaudy, explosively colorful, and extravagant outfits, performances and personalities. But the clothing was really quite a spectacle. Fitting a male body into female clothing is always an experiment, and pulling it off well certainly a challenge. But, all of the five contestants in the drag show did so very well.

Judging the event was Senior Jodie Gerard, Junior Adam Shapiro, Sophomore Kevin Cho, Freshman Cydney Love Smith, and local professional drag queen Isis Vermouth. All looked fabulous and had many biting opinions about the contestants.

The Judges, from left to right, Isis Vermouth, Cydney Love Smith, Kevin Choe, Adam Shapiro, and Jodie Gerard.

Read the rest of this entry »

Vassar campus as been all a flurry for the past few weeks, and the amassing snow added to the onslaught of midterm assignments has made for a challenging environment for innovative and creative fashion. In this sort of weather, comfort, warmth and functionality tend to take precedence anything else, i.e. looking your very best. I know the slush ruined at least two pairs of my boots last week. All of this being said, I was impressed by anyone who put in a hearty effort into their clothing choices last week. While I was sitting casually in the ACDC one afternoon, Julia Sohn ’12 caught my eye.

Read the rest of this entry »

One of Leksi’s most challenging pieces, as she hand stitched on every sequin, shows true dedication to her craft.

If you didn’t really get to know Leksi Kolanko, you might not know that some of the clothes she wears are her own. Leksi, a sophomore Studio Art major at Vassar, holds a great passion for design. Sewing since the fifth grade, Leksi is completely self-taught, with only a few classes under her belt. This considered, her talent is unbelievable.

Leksi hopes to further her formal fashion education either the fall of her Junior year in London, or in a graduate program after Vassar, and has recently put together a portfolio of her work to apply for fashion and design programs abroad. With this she hopes to further her techniques and gain invaluable experience. The portfolio consists of countless dresses, leotards, shorts, jackets, blouses and accessories, all modeled and photographed by Leksi herself.

For Leksi, her garment making is highly based on function. Possessing a vastly creative mind as an artist, Leksi feels as if her art and her clothes are very separate from one another at this point, while hoping to harmonizing the two eventually. One thing her painting and design have in common is that they both intricately involve the self. Leksi’s paintings are largely self-portraits, and her clothing is all tailored to her own body and aesthetic.

In this self-portrait, Leksi combines her passion for painting and her design, displaying two of her hand-sewn bows, which you can see her wearing on a daily basis.

She describes her own style as feminine and simple. Drawing inspiration from favorite designer Marc Jacobs, Leksi revels in Jacob’s creative and daring mixture of color and pattern. As far as inspiration for individual garments, Leksi says, “A lot of times I go into a store not knowing what I’m going to make, and get ideas from the patterns and textures of the fabrics.” Leksi finds this inspiration mainly from the Project Runway famed fabric store Mood, in New York City. Leksi favors a very specific silhouette in her work and in her personal wardrobe. All efforts must be made to flatter the bottom half of the body (“I HATE flares,”) while the top half might sport a more flouncy, looser shape. Besides her own work, Leksi wears clothes from Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, and occasionally eBay or her mother’s closet. Read the rest of this entry »