Zilly Then, a senior fashion design major at Indiana University, and her professor, Megan Romans, sat in Romans’ living room and turned old, thrifted IU T-shirts they found at Goodwill into dozens of roses, gluing them onto an old football helmet.
“Zilly came over to my house, and we made (roses) just until our fingers were bleeding. That amount of roses,” Romans said.
They created this colorful helmet as part of an outfit Then designed for the Rose Bowl: an 18th century-inspired lamb-shape hoop skirt, a mesh overskirt and a crimson shrug and corset accented with roses.
Hannah Shepherd, Then’s classmate and model, wore the piece for the photoshoot. Shepherd and Season Magazine photographer Grace Guo shot a series of photos in a nearly-empty Memorial Stadium a week after Then and her professors brainstormed the idea after finals week.
“It was cold and it was heavy,” Shepherd said about the helmet.
The Rose Bowl look garnered over 10,000 likes on IU Bloomington’s Instagram page and attracted local news attention.
“I think it's really cool to see everything that's come out of this,” Romans said.
The outfit didn’t start out as the iconic crimson and cream Rose Bowl look many have seen on Instagram, though.
It came from a similar design Then used for her senior capstone project. During her presentation, Then’s professors pointed out that the mesh skirt she used reminded them of athletic wear, becoming the initial inspiration behind Then’s popular design.
“So, we decided, let's do something for football for fun,” Then said. “And from that on, we decided to create a look. And also, we wanted to focus on the Rose Bowl theme, so we tried to add some roses.”
Then created the design and the outfit just after the semester ended, before IU’s football team played in and won the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
This new outfit was a personal endeavor — a continuation, but not a requirement — of her senior capstone project.
Then described her style as “modest” but “also very girly.” She said she likes to use colors, and her favorite fabrics are chiffon and anything sheer. Her style is clear in the Rose Bowl dress — her favorite piece to date.
Professor Jessica Quirk, one of Then’s fashion design professors, said the entire Rose Bowl piece spawned out of Then’s love for design.
“She's an incredibly hard worker,” Quirk said. “She's incredibly talented with her artwork, the style of designs; her technical abilities are high, and she's a lovely person.”
As for her future, Then hopes to work for one of her favorite companies, Nordstrom, a leading fashion retailer, where she is currently applying for a position.
“I think she's going to have a lot of demand,” Quirk said.
Then also wants to pursue her own brand in the future, alongside company work: something where she can pursue her own creative endeavors when imagination strikes.
“I do want to keep making, you know, things that I get inspiration for and something different to keep my creativity up and working with other people,” Then said.
Then is presenting more of her work near the end of the semester at the Fashion Design Capstone Show on April 9 at the Indiana Memorial Union’s Alumni Hall. The show, which displays the work of graduating fashion design students, is free to attend.
