Flair for fashion: Student brings elegant style to apparel, hairstyling
Jason Gagnon’s obsession with fashion started at a young age.
When the Riverdale junior drew comics as a child, it wasn’t a person’s face or dialogue that he loved drawing — it was their clothes.
Gagnon, who has a double major in apparel design and merchandising with a minor in art, said attending hair school after high school rekindled his love for fashion, and he decided to come to CMU and pursue it.
“My favorite part of fashion is being able to bring something you actually thought of to life,” Gagnon said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. It took a long time for me to know exactly what to do with life but I have finally found it.”
With a cousin who’s a tailor and a mother and grandmother who both knew how to sew, Gagnon said that he has been sewing since he was a teenager.
Gagnon creates every aspect of his clothing from beginning to end, from sketching the idea to sewing and seeing the final product on the runway. It’s not uncommon to stay up until 4 a.m. or 7 a.m. planning every detail of an outfit is not uncommon, Gagnon said.
“I like to dress a girl who likes to blend art with a little bit of mystery and a good time, all while looking classy,” Gagnon said. “No Ke$ha moments here.”
Gagnon is one of two student producers this year for Threads, a fashion group on campus which allows students to do fashion shows to display their designs.
Gagnon said Threads will be hosting a fashion week in mid-April where he will not only help run the show but feature an 8 piece collection, meaning he will dress 8 models from head to toe.
For this show, he will be showcasing a spring/summer line which fog helped inspire, Gagnon said.
“I’m taking fog and making it into a fashion statement,” Gagnon said. “I like the mystery of fog so I really wanted to play with the mystery and make it really romantic.”
Gagnon said that his signature piece is a sophisticated little dress. Romantic, girly items such as petals, lace and bows are all things he loves to incorporate to his pieces.
Outside of fashion, Gagnon works as a hair dresser part time and has done hair for four years now.
Elizabeth Goss is one of many people to have her hair done by Gagnon. The California graduate student said he is very talented.
“Very creative and really knows how to work well with color and how to create a shape within the hair that complements the face,” Goss said. “He has a great eye for knowing what will work and creating things out of raw materials.”
As far as fashion goes, Goss described Gagnon’s style as “classically elegant with a feminine twist.”
In the future, Gagnon said he hopes to first work under more experienced designers before hopefully owning his own line and showing at a real fashion week.
“When you see your garments out there for three minutes on the runway, it’s amazing,” Gagnon said. “Those three minutes is what you live for.”
