RECLAIM: 32nd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

RECLAIM: 32st Annual Benefit Fashion Show

The 32nd Annual Benefit Fashion Show took place on April 17-18, 2026, at 7 p.m., during MICA’s Bicentennial year.

As we reflect on the artistic legacy of this institution, we are asking our designers to investigate and expand on this year’s theme, RECLAIM.

To reclaim is ‘to return to or recover something that was lost or taken’. Our show means to inspire appreciation and action to preserve historic cultural art practices. What can we salvage from the past? How can we ensure these histories move forward with us?

Through research, craft, & performance, our 8 collections by MICA students explore what it means to acknowledge our roots as artists and take them into the future.

See the full gallery at mica.edu/abfs-highlights

About the Collections

As a trained Kathak and Odissi dancer, I reclaim Indian classical dance not only as performance but as profound cultural inheritance. This art form was once distorted and mischaracterized under colonial rule as deviant and blasphemous. Even today, many Indians dismiss it as primitive and irrelevant. In truth, Indian classical dance is technically rigorous, philosophically layered, and deeply expressive. This collection responds to the long history of that belittling and misrepresentation by restoring visibility and reverence to their depth and sophistication.

ANANTAA, meaning “forever” in Sanskrit, is a contemporary fashion collection rooted in the Navarasa, the nine emotional states described in the Natya Shastra, an ancient text on the performing arts. Revisiting five rasas: Adbhut (Enchantment), Shringaar (Love), Veer (Pride), Raudra (Fury), and Shaant (Peace), I translate centuries old philosophy into modern, wearable expressions of textile and craft.

Adbhut plays with iridescence using Silver-Zari embroidery on purple satin. Shringaar evokes sensuality through layered silks in blue. Veer channels strength with structured silhouettes and bold yellow hues. Raudra confronts through a dramatic silhouette in red brocade silk. Shaant offers stillness in minimalist whites.

Ethical materials - handwoven silks and artisanal embroidery, anchor this collection. In a world of homo-genized fast fashion, ANANTAA becomes both personal and political: a celebration of heritage and a vision for a more embodied, expressive, and sustainable future.

About the designer

Mugdha Nath is an Indian animator and filmmaker currently studying at MICA. Her work spans across stop-motion, 2D and 3D animation, with a strong focus on lighting, sound and narrative experimentation. Alongside her animation practice, she is also minoring in Experimental Fashion at MICA. This separate body of work explores form, texture, and concept-driven design, expanding her creative language beyond the screen.

@mugdha_nath

My collection, Cryptids & Creatures Anew, is inspired by the Appalachian experience and transforms secondhand clothing into wearable art that features West Virginia folklore and creatures.

Growing up in Appalachia, I heard stories of cryptids in the hills of West Virginia, like Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster. I am inspired by ephemeral moments in nature and the wildlife of my home. Each look is brought to life through contemporary dance movement and gestures, and is a nod to my roots growing up at a dance studio that took great care in detailing costumes and sharing dance as an artform.

My garments are quilted together through found scraps and repurposed clothing, reimagining the remnants of sewing projects and everyday Appalachian life. I use old flannel shirts, paint, thrifted buttons, found antlers, and my grandfather’s turkey feathers to create new takes on animals and folk creatures that hide in the woods of West Virginia.

Through this collection, I want to reclaim the narrative of what many outsiders think of West Virginia and Appalachia. I aim to share the beauty of the natural world and transform the formidable creatures of folklore into symbols of strength and decadence.

About the designer

Zoë Brielle Payne is a dancer, multidisciplinary artist and educator from Belington, West Virginia. She is also the Founding Director of ZBRI, a dance ensemble based in Baltimore, Maryland that performs locally and tours regionally. She received her BFA in Dance from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University. As an Appalachian artist, her work is inspired by rural landscapes and the rich depth of social connections that stem from communal support networks. Zoë is currently getting her MFA in Community Arts at MICA.

@zoebriellep
@zbridance
zoebriellep.com

For Ms. Lowe, a collection by Maia Hollien, is a celebration of bridal fashion and ballroom culture as Black American and Queer art forms. This show breaks the mold of what contemporary bridal fashion can be through experiments with color, composition, and material. My collection consists of six looks created as a tribute to Anne Cole Lowe, the American Couturier. Reaching the height of her success during the Jim Crow Era, she is now regarded as the “mother of bridal”, but in her lifetime she was “society’s best kept secret.” All of the pieces employ elements of the fashion icon’s signatures that were often commercialized, often copied, and often left out of conversation. This collection also nods to other prolific Black designers like André Leon Talley.

The line uses classic bridal fabrics like silk and satin while also acknowledging the cultural and historical relevance of materials like denim and cotton. This work asks the audience to consider how painfully unaware we are of the cultural history that shapes the trends of today. Globally western fashion owes itself to the Black and queer folks who helped to cultivate The Culture™. For Ms. Lowe. accedes that reclamation.

About the designer

Maia Hollien is a community artist with a practice based in honoring her ancestors by passing on artistic traditions to future generations. A proud Black Southerner, her fervent use of color, maximalist style, gothic nods, and “something from nothing” nature draw through-lines to the roots of the many places and people she has called home. With her BFA in Kinetic Imaging from VCUArts, Maia is currently studying for her MFA in Community Arts from MICA.

@maia.janih.jpg
@howdy.hoochie.arts
Howdyhoochie.com

MONOPOLY is developed and performed by the Baltimore Freedom Theater, a growing communitybased political theater troupe based in Baltimore. The original game of Monopoly was created by Lizzie Magie in 1903 as a critique of landlords and capitalism entitled “The Landlord’s Game.” In this iteration players could either take the corrupt and exploitative path, or the ethical path, sharing resources with their fellow players. Decades later, Magie’s game was ripped off by a man who eliminated the option for ethical gameplay, changing the original intention of the game and making enormous profit.

Set in the Monopoly world where hierarchy, exploitation, and corruption are fundamental, our collection reclaims the original purpose of the game. The performance follows the plot of the Greek tragedy Antigone, a story of conviction and defiance of law. With the characters doubling as monopoly pieces, the two worlds collide in a reflection of our own hierarchical system where justice is absent. In a moment where morals and law come face to face, a decision is made that disrupts the social contract.

Would you dare defy the law for justice? Or will you keep your tongue in leash.

About the designers

Simone Isip is a fiber and community-based artist based in Brooklyn and Baltimore. Their work, a wide array of textile, installation, wearables, performance, and community organizing, is motivated by a desire for human connection amidst the complexities of navigating the presence and histories of colonialism, extraction, and exploitation. Exploring and utilizing material language, with an emphasis on the unconventional and outcast, they call attention to these intersecting experiences through visual metaphor.

Loulie Rossmassler is a weaver whose work favors bright colors, contrast, and pattern to grab the viewer’s attention. Employing highly time consuming and laborious techniques, immersion in the weaving process honors weaving’s departure from the demands of modern life. Using both meticulous planning as well as spontaneity, the work maintains a high standard of craftsmanship. Academic and material research aids in communicating ideas behind the work clearly and accessibly. Utilizing weaving traditions to maintain the cultural importance of weaving goes hand in hand with reflecting the need for community and solidarity as we continue the struggle against oppression in the world.

@bmorefreetheater

My collection Rally Round explores how people of color use celebration and togetherness as a form of healing. The work reflects the quiet sense of diasporic connection that can appear when another person of color enters a space. Culturally we have a lot of shared experiences in the ways that we play and express ourselves.

The name for my collection Rally Round is drawn from the song “Rally Round” by Steel Pulse. The song talks about coming together and celebrating as one. It carries themes of Pan-Africanism that also show up in the colors I use for my garments. My personal connections to Jamaica and Maryland live within this collection. Their influence appears through materials that carry personal meaning from moments when I felt most connected to my culture. In my design process I focus on tactility and movement by using textured materials that drag or dangle.

The performance for Rally Round celebrates play as a way to rebuild. My hope is that anyone who encounters the work, regardless of cultural background, can feel that energy and find a point of connection within it and with one another!

About the designer

Sofie Jarrett is a multidisciplinary artist based in Maryland, currently pursuing a BFA in Ecosystems, Sustainability, and Justice with a minor in Photography. Her work explores themes of identity, environment, and self-expression. Moving across mediums, she examines how personal experiences shape the way we see ourselves and the world around us.

@juneplumphoto

My show examines how wage inequality and oppressive systems of power persist by turning the rebellion against itself. Using a myriad of recycled materials and found objects, such as deadstock Delta Airlines blankets, soda can tabs, recycled denim, and even Converse shoes—I reclaim the discarded products of consumer culture and rework them into garments that turn excess material into tools of rebellion.

The collection marries silhouettes, both antique and contemporary, with a punk edge, illustrating the way fashion trends cycle. We continually take old forms and repackage them as new; what reads as subversive is constantly changing and often contested. The clothing of counterculture is shaped by political and economic unrest, absorbing the anxieties of its moment.

Marie Antoinette represents the face of power, wealth, and excess—while the Rebels embody competing strategies of reform and refusal. The work asks what happens when resistance is divided, debilitated, and distracted. What it means when systems of excess and inequality never truly die; mutating, rebranding, and reappearing.

When one face of power is “cut off,” another grows right back into its place. The final image reveals revolution not as an ending, but as a recursion.

About the designer

Annie Knotts is a Maryland-based interdisciplinary artist and current senior pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in General Fine Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Working across drawing, painting, sculpture, and fashion design, her practice blurs material boundaries to explore power, consumption, femininity, and the grotesque. Her work is rooted in her experience as a young queer woman coming of age amid political unrest, using the body as both subject and site of resistance. She has exhibited in Walls of Demand in Washington, DC (2019) and Spring Cleaning in Baltimore, MD (2025).

@annies_artportfolio

“Self” is a short story that explores the theme of reclaiming your identity and hope. It features characters that represent core parts of a person and even a collective, in mourning over an important part of themselves that they thought had “died”. Their collective autonomy seems scarce, and they are all disconnected from one another.

The core character undergoes a transformation where they are sent out of their world and are questioned by a higher being of self. How can you create change if you are resistant to reworking your basic foundations? How can you love others when you think even you are undeserving? How can you be a guide to others when your light isn’t shining? Once the core character realizes the worth of their home, their community and themself, they learn they can advocate for everything or person they ever cared about.

The commitment to community needs to be balanced with understanding of individual autonomy. The star shines bright and is guidance to the rest of its body. They are all the pieces of a puzzle that formed a clear collective. Now the heart can complete its full circulation.

About the designer

Jayden Henry is an Afro-Asian American born in 2005, from Kent Island, Maryland. They are a Junior Printmaking major with a minor in Interactive Arts and Experimental fashion. Jayden is a multidisciplinary artist and enjoys working with the themes of deep feelings, vulnerability, relations and trying to psychologically work through feelings of confusion. They're working on pushing themselves to be more okay with visibility through creation and intimate themes. This is the first collection and performance they have ever put together.

@jaydeebird_

CULTURAL DIFFUSION OR CULTURAL APPROPRIATION? RECLAIM, MEANS TO RECOVER CULTURAL EXPRESSIONS COMBATING EXPLOITATIVE PRACTICES FROM OUTSIDERS. THEY ARE WATCHING EVEN WHEN THEY’RE NOT WATCHING EXPRESSES THIS RECLAMATION THROUGH THE EXPLORATION OF FASHION, MUSIC, DANCE, AND PROJECTED IMAGES.

FOR MANY YEARS, WITHOUT RECOGNITION, BLACK ARTISTS HAVE CARRIED THE BLUE PRINT FROM LUMINARIES LIKE GLADYS BENTLEY, BIG MOMMA THORTON, LITTLE RICHARD, DOLAMITE, AND ROBERT JOHNSONAS THE REST OF THE WORLD FOLLOWED. THIS COLLECTION PAYS HOMAGE TO MISA HYLTON, A PIONEER WHO CREATED AN ETERNAL BRIDGE BETWEEN MAINSTREAM FASHION AND HIP HOP CULTURE. BUSTA RHYMES AND MISSY ELLIOT USED AFRO FUTURISTIC VISUALS IMPACTING A GENERATION OF CREATIVES TO INSPIRE FUTURE-FORWARD ART. ERYKAH BADU PROVIDED WITTY INTERPRETATIONS OF PAN AFRICAN ENERGY THROUGH NATURAL HAIRSTYLES AND AFROCENTRIC SILHOUETTES, ACCOMPANIED WITH LYRICS THAT WOULD SPEAK TO FUTURE GENERATIONS. TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD / WHERE IN THE WORLD IS ALL THE TIME? / SO MANY THINGS I STILL DON’T KNOW / SO MANY TIMES I’VE CHANGED MY MIND / GUESS I WAS BORN TO MAKE MISTAKES / BUT I AIN’T SCARED TO TAKE THE WEIGHT / SO WHEN I STUMBLE OFF THE PATH / I KNOW MY HEART WILL GUIDE ME BACK. BLACK CULTURE INFLUENCES GLOBAL FASHION, SLANG, AND AESTHETICS. BLACK CULTURE ISN’T CHASING STYLE THE WORLD IS CHASING BLACK FASHION.

About the designer

MY WORK EXPLORES THE COMPLEX REALITIES OF BLACK IDENTITY ALLOWING GARMENTS TO FUNCTION AS TRIBUTE, A VESSEL OF MEMORIES, CULTURAL LINEAGE, AND THE MESSAGES OF THOSE WHO CAME BEFORE US. THE PROCESS CONSISTS OF SOURCING REPURPOSED MATERIALS AND CREATING MY OWN TEXTILES. I COLLABORATED WITH ARTISTS OF DIFFERENT MEDIUMS TO EXPRESS IMAGES THAT COMMUNICATE SPECIFIC STORIES, CENTERING BLACK EXPERIENCE AND MEMORY. EACH PIECE BECOMES A SPACE WHERE HISTORY IS ACKNOWLEDGED, MEMORY IS PRESERVED, AND NEW NARRATIVES ARE INSCRIBED.

breebrechelle.com

Annie Knotts / Reign, Ruin, Recur + Enlarge

Maia J. Hollien / For Ms. Lowe + Enlarge

Reign, Ruin, Recur

“My show examines how wage inequality and oppressive systems of power persist by turning the rebellion against itself. Using a myriad of recycled materials and found objects, such as deadstock Delta Airlines blankets, soda can tabs, recycled denim, and even Converse shoes—I reclaim the discarded products of consumer culture and rework them into garments that turn excess material into tools of rebellion…The work asks what happens when resistance is divided, debilitated, and distracted. What it means when systems of excess and inequality never truly die; mutating, rebranding, and reappearing…”

Artist

Annie Knotts

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

For Mrs. Lowe

Artist

Maia J. Hollien ’27

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

1 of 2

Creative Team

Anahita Arun (Graphic Design, Interactive Arts, Humanistic Studies; ‘26) is a multidisciplinary designer and artist from Mumbai, India. Her work explores art, design, writing and immersive experiences through the lenses of politics, socio-economics, intercultural communication, art history, and curation. Her work is also heavily based on the internet and media culture. She aims to use her practice as a way to bridge human understanding of the intersecting worlds we inhabit across time, geography and reality.

LJ is a graphic designer and part-time art historian currently based in Baltimore, MD. Specializing in print and motion, she uses her practice to explore the unique ways that design is used to communicate complex ideas and casual day-to-day happenings. She enjoys researching the intersection of design history, politics, and Black visual culture and strongly believes that the best art is the ones made by humans.

Kai Nunnally has earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Textiles and Fashion at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). Her art practice seeks to discover how complexity can be created through repetition of a movement or process. Kai is also interested in material culture of textile objects and hopes to apply the hand skills she has learned at MICA to an art conservation degree. Her interest in material culture has landed her two museum internships through the Smithsonian and further inspired her interest in the development of dress within African American culture.

Kiara is a graphic designer specialising in branding, packaging and UX design. Her work is an intersection of experimental typography, print techniques, and audiovisual motion design. She aims to create visual identities that communicate authentic stories and foster connections, while always considering the impact that design has on shaping human perception.

Washington D.C. - Baltimore based designer with a concentration in social, economic, and environmental sustainability, Brady Smith is a versatile designer whose work spans a wide range of mediums, including branding, packaging, posters, layouts, book spreads, magazines, UI/UX research, and web development. With a strong foundation in sustainable design, he emphasizes eco-friendly materials, ethical production processes, and inclusive strategies that foster community engagement.

Eyek Ntekim is a videographer, filmmaker, and creative director committed to telling purposeful and visually compelling stories. As the founder of Purposefull Media LLC, she produces strategic visual content that helps brands and organizations communicate with clarity, authenticity, and impact. Her work blends cinematic storytelling with intentional creative direction, focusing on lifestyle, beauty, and documentary-style narratives.

Alaina Lurry is an Atlanta and Baltimore-based photographer studying at MICA. Her work explores the intricacies of black womanhood and selfidentity through comparison, by foraging spaces of comfort for members of her community and honoring them with care and authenticity. By utilizing people of her community framed in different settings, she aims to push the boundaries of black portraiture and question the societal perceptions of blackness.

Raúl Fernando is a Baltimore-based photographer, videographer, and music producer known for his editorials, fashion commercials and fine art photography. With a deep passion for visual storytelling, his work blends personal narrative with cultural exploration, often focusing on the immigrant & hybrid identity experience in America. Through his images, he seeks to shed light on diverse communities, redefining identity and belonging in the modern world.

Zoë Brielle Payne / Cryptids & Creatures Anew + Enlarge

Sofie Jarrett / Rally Round + Enlarge

Cryptids & Creatures Anew

Artist

Zoë Brielle Payne ’27

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

Rally Round

Artist

Sofie Jarrett

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

1 of 2

MICA Team

sara kaltwasser is the Associate Director of the Office of Mission & Community Learning at MICA, and oversees the Community Art & Service Program. She holds a BFA in Painting from Pacific Northwest College of Art, as well as an MFA in Community Arts from MICA. Her primary role with Mission is to connect students, staff and faculty to the broader Baltimore community through leadership opportunities as well as strong community partnerships.

Marissa Vazhappilly is the Mission Specialist at the Office of Mission & Community Learning. They support student leaders, support community based programming, and help facilitate the Annual Benefit Fashion Show from behind the scenes. When they aren't working, they're making animated films.

Dr. Frankie Martin is the founder of the Annual Benefit Fashion Show! 32 years ago, she conceptualized & realized the show in collaboration with MICA’s Black Student Union to showcase and highlight the creativity of our students across various disciplines and backgrounds who choose to focus on wearable art and performance. In her work, she was dedicated to making sure MICA’s students felt heard, scene, and connected to the community. The Dr. Frankie Martin grant supports students facing emergent needs by investing in their creative careers. After retiring from the college, she has also received MICA’s highest badge of recognition, the Medal of Honor. We are so glad to be able to commit to her legacy during our 31st year.

Simone Isip & Loulie Rossmassler / Monopoly, Antigone: A Tragedy + Enlarge

Zoë Brielle Payne / Cryptids & Creatures Anew + Enlarge

MONOPOLY, Antigone: A Tragedy

Artist

Simone Isip ‘26 & Loulie Rossmassler ‘27

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

Cryptids & Creatures Anew

Artist

Zoë Brielle Payne ’27

Date

2026

Credit

Photo by Alaina Lurry/Raúl Fernando for the 32rd Annual Benefit Fashion Show

1 of 2

History of the Annual Benefit Fashion Show

Dr. Frankie Martin founded the Annual Benefit Fashion Show, in partnership with the Black Student Union (BSU) to raise funds for student scholarships. Since then, she has retired from the College and received MICA’s highest honor, the Medal of Honor.

ABFS raises funds for the Dr. Frankie Martin Grant, which goes towards students in need of financial support. This grant has a marked effect on the students who receive it: alleviating financial stress, helping them complete creative projects, and building their futurity as professional artists.

Donate to the Dr. Frankie Martin Grant here.

MICA's Bicentennial: Celebrating Two Centuries

Join the festivities as MICA honors its 200-year history, recognizes its present success, and looks forward to a bright future. Throughout 2026, the College will be sharing community stories and announcing one-of-a-kind events on campus, in Baltimore, and beyond.

LEARN MORE

Search for anything and everything at MICA: