Kendall Warson

Kendall had always loved fashion. When she first came to Parsons, she simply wanted to make beautiful clothes. But by the time she became a senior, she learned that design could be much more. “You can do so many things with a garment that I didn’t think possible,” Kendall says. “Fashion is really powerful. It can spread ideas and connect people.” Now she describes her role as a designer in terms not unlike those a social scientist or environmentalist might use.

In her Systems and Society class, Kendall learned to consider every step of the research process: where the materials come from, where they go, and how to create clothes that engage with the world outside the classroom. She applied her learning to Sensory, a project in which she created a line of clothing for people with visual impairments. “Garments have all these design features that you never think of when you have sight, but that are really tough for blind people, such as distinguishing between different articles of clothing," Kendall explains.

Kendall created garments designed to help sight-impaired people navigate the world. One feature was a tagging system to help them put together their own outfits. “There’s this huge psychological connection between what we wear and how we feel, and it can really affect our sense of self-worth,” Kendall says. Her project helped her understand what her voice — as a designer, thinker, and maker — could mean in the world.