A Symphony Meets Style

When Ludwig van Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 starts playing, what do you see?

That’s right. See.

For three fashion design students at , visualizing music is just as important as listening to it.

The students are participating in the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Project Beethoven, which features college-level fashion students from Massachusetts schools who design a garment inspired by a particular composer. 

Tonight, the participants will show off their evening wear in the Symphony Hall lobby prior to the BSO’s performance of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3. Following the concert, a fashion show will be held for the designers and their models where winning designs will be named.

“When I submitted by design, I was not expecting to get as far as I have,” said Lasell sophomore Jessica Hutchings. “It was shocking and intense when I heard I actually had to design my dress.”

Along with students Yuki Kanai and Nicole Wzorek, Hutchings has been working for the past two and a half months on her design. The rose pattern, blue material and zebra print on her dress represent different instruments in the concerto; the zebra represents the piano, the rose print is the clarinet and the blue sections stand for the remaining woodwind instruments.

The series of inter-weaving straps, Hutchings said, represent the string section, which introduces the piece.

“When (the concerto) was playing, I suddenly had this image of a ball gown,” Hutchings said. “It reminded me of a ballroom setting and it emerged from there.”

The students were part of a group of designs selected by Lasell faculty and submitted to the BSO, according to Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, who is an associate professor and chair of the school’s Fashion Departmet. The BSO then chose these three Lasell students from the entire pool of college applicants.

Ruppert-Stroescu said she selected the applicants after issuing a similar assignment to her Fashion Design Concepts class. The students, she said, were asked to sketch while listening to Beethoven, coming up with designs and colors based on what they hear.

“It’s an interesting process,” Ruppert-Stroescu said. “You’ll find 10 students with 10 different personalities all come out with the same color.”

This is the third year the BSO has done a fashion-music project, Ruppert-Stroescu said, with last year’s theme revolving around Tchaikovsky and the first year focusing on Mozart.

Each student researches the music, era and composer, she said, and is given $100 for materials to make the garment.

At the end of the night, a panel of professional judges will chose their favorite piece of evening wear and an award will also go to the public’s favorite, which will be chosen prior to the concert.

“It’s not only a garment standing on it’s own, it’s also how the designer can speak about her inspiration and her way of developing this garment,” Ruppert-Stroescu said.

Tonight’s festivities begin at 6:30 p.m., where concert goers are able to view the garments prior to the 8 p.m. concert. The winners of the evening will be announced at a fashion event following the concert.