Author Laura Ruby set the stage for this year’s FashioNext competition with “Snow,” a fictional scenario of Chicago in 2072.

Watch the video to hear Laura welcome the teen designers to the 2017 competition and read “Snow” or download a PDF of the scenario.

The Museum has challenged the FashioNext designers to draw inspiration from the garments in Making Mainbocher and ground their garments in Laura’s speculative future. In the world of “Snow,” traditional materials for clothing are hard to come by, so the teams must contend with fabric restrictions, rationed materials, “smuggled goods,” and DIY embellishments. Their goal is to creatively use the materials provided to create a garment of any type for a man or woman.

The Next Chapter

To celebrate our collaboration with Laura Ruby, the Museum invited FashioNext participants to write the next chapter of her scenario. Requirements included incorporating the circumstances of and characters in “Snow” and referencing the final look being developed by the author’s team.

After two rounds of judging, Laura picked the winner and curator Petra Slinkard made the announcement on Instagram. Jionna Harmon’s “Thaw” will appear alongside the original scenario in the FashioNext exhibition. She was also recognized at the FashioNext finale and won tickets to the 16th annual Driehaus Awards for Fashion Excellence. Thank you to all of our extremely talented authors, and many congratulations to Jionna and Visualizing Vyntaje 2072 from Westinghouse College Prep!

Laura Ruby

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Laura Ruby writes fiction for kids, teens, and adults, including the forthcoming middle-grade trilogy YORK and the young adult novel Bone Gap, a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the 2015 Printz Medal. She is on the faculty of the Master’s in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Hamline University.