Being a blogger has its perks, and one that I recently got was this behind the scenes look with a designer for the Material Worlds Fashion Show being held at the Ace Hotel this Friday. The concept of the show is inspired by the incredible and lucid work of designer Iris Van Herpen that is currently on exhibit at the museum. I love the Carnegie museums and the Ace Hotel Pittsburgh, so I was in.

As it turned out, I had previously booked my son’s birthday party for the following day at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (he’s quite the dinosaur enthusiast). So while I’ve been getting birthday details together, I’ve also been thinking about what to wear to the show. Creative formal is the dress code, and this most definitely gives the invitation to have a bit of fun with one’s outfit. I’ve been leaning towards pieces with high volume, contrasting style fabrics and a bit more edge than what I typically reach for.

In addition to attending the event, I was offered a behind the scenes look with one of the designers who was selected to participate in the show. I had a studio visit with Rachel Muse, an architecture student at Carnegie Mellon, whose recently delved into the world of runway. She showed me what she’s been up to, and I loved the vibe of her college house turned fashion production space.

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Rachel had the Iris Van Herpen coffee table book out went I went to visit and it was such an amazing compilation piece. Some other coffee table book topics that go along with this include Manus X Machina, Alexander McQueen and Vogue and The Mets Costume Institution

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Rachel is creating silhouetted frames of molded wood that she’ll drape with black chiffon fabric. I couldn’t help but notice the architectural influence her garment pieces had, and am eager see how these will move down the runway. We talked about the appreciation of fitting the human body and the nuances that come along with it.

Dried flowers were scattered throughout her space, and she explained that these were the celebratory flowers from her previous (and debut) show. I thought it was such a sweet sentiment to be working alongside a reminder of the excitement of her last show.

Hope you enjoyed this behind the scenes look at the Material Worlds Fashion Show. I’m so looking for the event Friday to see what everyone has created. The show did sell out, but you can follow along on my instagram, @zoewithloveblog if you want to see the final looks as well as what I end up wearing to the event!

All photos by Zoë With Love

Thanks to the Carnegie Museum of Art and to Rachel for taking time to give us a glimpse of her process