color, design, and fashion at the MDC

MDC, short for the Michigan Design Center, hosted an event called Finish 2 Fashion: an evening in Paris.  The 2nd annual event, even with lack of advertising, catered to huge crowds.  After the cocktails stopped flowing the event began with a short presentation by Solutia who is in charge of forecasting color palettes a year ahead of time.  They then work with architecture firms, manufacturers, car companies and other design firms to present upcoming colors.  The colors inspired by art, nature, culture and architecture were assigned to a manufacture who donated materials to the groups.  The inspiration of these 4 sub-categories was explained with power point pictures from a recent trip to Paris.  Selecting the colors came from a watchful eye that was able to translate color found in museums, plants, people, shopping, buildings, and light. The materials ranged from tile pieces, carpet, plastic, laminate swatches and just about anything that the students and design teams could turn into wearable fashion. 

Architecture inspired: Aerial View, Stucco, French Baroque, Modernism

Culture inspired: Couture, Masquerade, Fifi

Nature inspired: Gardens, Promenade, Droplet



Art inspired: Antiquity, Ballerina, Japanese Bridge, Torso