Moya Design Partners joins IIDAMAC’s 2019 Cosmo Couture

Washington (October 10, 2019) – Imagine a dress made of wood veneer, a gown made of carpeting materials or a suit made from wall coverings. #CosmoCouture is where interior becomes exterior! On October 10, 2019, Moya Design Partners and our sponsor, Scott Brogan Group, joined the International Interior Design Association Mid-Atlantic Chapter (@IIDAMAC), at the Washington National Cathedral for this annual benefit runway show.

IIDAMAC is a chapter of the Commercial Interior Design Association. It advocates for education, design excellence, legislation, leadership, accreditation, and community outreach to increase the value and understanding of interior design and its positive impacts on people’s health and well-being.

Each year, IIDAMAC fosters collaboration between local architecture and interior design firms and their manufacturing partners with their Cosmo Couture fundraising event. Designer/manufacturer teams create a garment on a given theme. Then the garments are judged at a runway show, and awards are given to design teams in different categories:

• Haute Couture

• Best Runway Performance

• Best Use of Materials

• Best Interpretation of Theme

• Best Red-Carpet Look

• Audience Favorite

• Best Sketch

This year’s theme was memory.

“You’ve got to know the rules to break them. That’s what I’m here for, to demolish the rules but to keep the tradition.” — Alexander McQueen

Embracing this year’s theme of memory, the MOYA/Brogan team celebrated the legacy of fashion icon Alexander McQueen. Although often a private person whose candor shocked the fashion world, McQueen introduced his memorable fashion pieces at some of the most controversial fashion shows in history. We dived into his design inspiration, technical process, the exuberant display of his raw fashion shows, and his unique silhouettes that brought a sense of fantasy and rebellion to design.

Our entry, titled Alexander McQueen’s Memoirs, compiled garments inspired by McQueen’s controversial asylum in the Voss  Spring/Summer 2001 collection, which resembled the look of a padded cell in an asylum. McQueen was inspired in part by the grotesque photography of Joel Peter Witkin, which translated the human psyche with honesty and sophistication. On the technical side, McQueen’s exquisite use of cut, proportion, and color showed pride in his work as a London tailor.

McQueen’s process inspired the MOYA/Brogan team to create a top with architectural laminates in red tones applied like sequins. The skirt has metal mesh, barking, and recycled paper to evoke one of McQueen’s favorite materials: ostrich feathers.

For the shoes, our team was inspired by the iconic shoes revealed at McQueen’s final fashion show, 2010’s Plato’s Atlantis. This work took inspiration from nature, specifically reptiles and the sea, while models were made up with prosthetics that made them look like aliens. Our team modified a pair of regular shoes to resemble the exaggerated “Armadillo Shoes” made with red laminates applied like sequins.

Alexander McQueen’s Memoirs celebrates the courage to be different, to be unique, to be an underdog, and to be bold; to not be afraid to show your authenticity even in the most challenging situations; to grow; and to let your work as a designer transcend and evolve.