Thursday, March 5 marked a commemorative day in Pratt history as Pratt Fashion presented its 121st annual runway show entitled “Homecoming,” held in Building 77 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. A display of 22 graduation senior’s designs, the show honored The Cut’s Editor-in-Chief, Lindsay Peoples, with the Pratt Fashion Visionary Award and Brooklyn native Dan Li with the Christopher Hunt “On Point” Award, a $5,000 prize carefully selected by industry professionals. 

Pratt Fashion Professor Adrienne Jones presented the award to Peoples, celebrating her award-winning journalism and dedication to upholding representation promoting inclusivity in fashion and its surrounding industries. Jones, the institute’s first tenured Black female professor, has taught in the Fashion Design department for over 25 years.

“My career in fashion has always felt like an uphill battle. There’s been many times on this journey that I thought I was going to break, that this story would be my last, that I’d never get a chance, and that I couldn’t stand another minute,” Peoples said. “But I have learned and am still learning to let the hard things in life break me – not so that I fall apart, but to the point of it affecting me, molding me, hitting me in a way that life has never before, all so that I can know who I am, and go past the limits I’ve put on myself and of what I thought I’m capable of doing in this industry. I have to keep pushing and be a ladder for those who don’t feel seen and heard.”

Following a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, Homecoming was a visually dynamic display of emerging talent and generational mindset. To an audience of over 300 guests, each of the graduating seniors presented a collection of between eight and 15 looks, complete with accessories. Body positivity and explorative identity were continuing themes throughout the runway show, with a variety of sustainable design practices were employed to create the stunning looks, including the utilization of natural dyes and bio plastics.

“We have always said that if we moved this show back to Brooklyn (from Manhattan) that it would need to be called Homecoming. We made that decision long before we knew just what a homecoming it would be.” – Jennifer Minniti, Chairwoman and Jane B. Nord Professor of Fashion. 

The designers who presented their collections include Trung-Tin Pham, Yajing Fang, Dan Li, Asher Eaton, Urey Wang, Gabrielle Borrajo, Elena Hengheng Zhou, Ziyu Guo, Shenmeng Liu, Lis Yuyao Wang, Magda Cintron, Katie Liu, Tianyi Lin, Qingqing Yu, Izabela Raczkowski, Yuhan Wang, Vi Vo, Lyric Caramto, Julie Moon, Jiaqi Shen, Jeeya Choi, and Chaoyue Wang. 

Dan Li, graduating senior and recipient of the Christopher Hunt “On Point” Award, presented a cohesive collection of eight looks that played with structure, asymmetry, and a feminine silhouettes. 

“Brooklyn always had a soft spot in my heart because it was the first place I considered to be my home. I felt extremely fortunate and grateful that the show was at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It holds a collective of different industries within an area, just like how a school is a melting pot for students of different races and ethnicities, coming together as one to learn,” Li said. “This collection was dedicated to my last year in school. I wanted to make a statement about school and its environment before I graduated.”