Any designer will tell you, the faces that grace your front row during a collection presentation can do wonders for your career.  That is, if the mugs in question are fashion heavyweights like Joseph Abboud, Andre Leon Talley, Tracy Reese and Steven Cox and Daniel Silver of Duckie Brown... especially, if you’re only 18.

Such was the case last Wednesday night when a slew of fashion-industry insiders (and dozens of family and friends) gathered in the auditorium of the Chelsea-based High School of Fashion Industries for its annual runway show.  For just under an hour a wide age-range of students paraded their classmates’ designs down the school’s makeshift catwalk.  The show, essentially the seniors’ final project, garnered cheers and applause.  Particularly, during the pop-culture-icon-inspired dream sequence that featured awe-inspiring lip-synched performances of stars like Diana, Madonna, Tina and Prince’s classic hits (appropriately outfitted, of course).

High School of Fashion Industries is the only high school in the world with an explicitly fashion-centric focus.  The mere fact that such an institution exists raises questions as to, how young is too young to go looking for creative talent?  What is the road ahead going to require from students like these?  Curious ourselves, we caught up with some of the fashion industry’s best and brightest, to find out how far back their fashion consciousness first awakened, and their advice for upcoming generations of aspiring designers.  In their own words:

Tracy Reese, Womenswear Designer, Honoree at this year’s presentation
How did you get involved with the High School?
I did a critique here a few years ago.  High School of Fashion Industries is always on the map, and it’s something we need and want to support.  It’s an incredible opportunity for these students.  I took fashion classes at my high school and it allows kids to open their eyes so early. 

What is your earliest fashion memory?
Haha.  The Ebony Fashion Fair with my mother.

Any advice for these students and aspiring designers?
Be patient.  Take the time to learn your craft.  Respect the craft.  It takes a lot of commitment to stay in this business. 

Daniel Silver and Steven Cox of Duckie Brown, Menswear Designers
How did you and Steven first get involved with the High School?
D: Actually, doggie day-care is around the corner so I used to pass this place all the time.  Then I realized it’s the High School of Fashion Industries.  Then I found out that Robert, who I know, chairs it.

You and Steven are known throughout the industry for your work helping younger, aspiring designers…
D: We have the FIT scholarship fund with Nokia that’s given out over $30,000 so far.  Those that have the passion should be encouraged.  Why not do everything in our power to foster that?  I don’t feel threatened by that.

Do you see this, looking for younger and younger talent, as a phenomenon right now?  First there was Project Runway, now Project Runway The College Years, etc?
D: First of all, I don’t think anyone out of Project Runway will ever really make it in fashion.  TV shows are based on ratings, not talent.  Every industry is dependent on what’s up-and-coming.  That’s all.

Steven, you’ve seen the presentations here before; what have been your overall impressions?
This is hard… it’s like a lot of student shows.  There are half that are incredibly interesting.  They’re in the early stages of just discovering themselves.  There’s always one that I find incredible though.  And I really love the un-professionalism.  God, they’re going to hate me for saying that, but it’s a student show so you don’t have to sell at this stage.  There shouldn’t be any restrictions.

What are your earliest fashion memories?
D: I was eight-years-old.  I lived in Toronto and I was in the car with my sister, who was 15 at the time, and my parents.  It was 1966.  They’d bought my sister a deep red pantsuit and she had bright red hair.  My mother said, ‘I can’t believe that pantsuit goes with her red hair!’  I thought, ‘Why not?’
S: Duran Duran’s video in Rio on the boat.  In Antigua.  That’s where I’m going tomorrow, for my birthday.  Well, not Antigua but Anguilla.  But, yes: pop music when I was 16, 17.  Videos like the Eurythmics’ ‘Who’s That Girl.’  Film I didn’t really pay attention to.

What advice would you give aspiring designers?
D: Keep wanting to do it.  You have to have the passion to do it.  And then, maybe, just maybe…
S: Make sure it’s from the heart, that it’s what you want to do. 

Joseph Abboud, Menswear Designer
So what did you think?
It was interesting – a lot of talent.  I have two daughters, one is 13, one 16, so I know they’re so young in their development.  And this is a tough crowd; there were a lot of industry professionals here tonight.  It took a lot of courage.  As a designer, it’s like an organic garden from where our future’s coming.  It gives me a lot of optimism and enthusiasm; an inward smile.

Did you have a favorite part?
I loved the girls – Diana, Tina, Madonna.  It’s amazing how sophisticated some of the color palettes were.  I have to give credit to the teachers.  You know, the fashion industry is a paradox.  It’s beauty on the outside, and, also, a dance with vipers.  The designer to the press; the designer to the retailer… In so many ways I envy them because they’re just beginning this amazing journey.

What is your earliest fashion memory?
[Laughs] It goes way back.  I had my first logo sweater at four-years-old.  It was a navy turtleneck with J.A. right here [points to his heart].  I always loved clothes.

What advice would you give aspiring designers?
You really have to have intestinal fortitude.  It’s not an easy road.  You have to be focused, dedicated, committed. 

Andre Leon Talley, Vogue Editor-At-Large
What did you think of the show?
Well-done.  It was marvelous!  They had so much dignity.  So dignified, all of them working as members of a team.

Did you have a favorite part?
I loved the themes – Motown and Madonna.  It was brilliantly done; imaginative; the energy was fantastic.

What is your earliest fashion memory?
A pair of yellow Christian Dior silk pajamas that my grandmother bought me.  They were from Paris but she must have bought them at a retailer in Durham [North Carolina, where Talley was raised].  They were yellow paisley.  I was eight.

If you could give these students one piece of advice what would it be?
Never give up your dream.  Get your high school diploma and continue your education.  You must have tenacity. 

~Alisa Gould-Simon