Laura Siegel
Fashion designer Laura Siegel, BFA Fashion Design ’10, established her eponymous line in 2011, working with artisans in rural communities around the globe to make ethically and sustainably produced garments and accessories. Her line is made up of relaxed, easy-to-wear separates created in sustainable textiles like hemp and Tencel and using repurposed fabrics.
While a student at Parsons, Siegel developed the key skills — silversmithing, knitting, natural dyeing, and embroidery — and the collaborative spirit that influences her collections to this day. She also made local and global connections through student apprenticeships for fashion companies and designers including Yigal Azrouël, Megan Park, Luca Luca, and Arthur Mendonca.
Siegel brings a spirit of activism to her work. She recently produced Project 1127, a limited-edition line of scarves made from recycled saris and locally sourced silk and cotton, to benefit the families of the 1,127 workers who died in 2013 in the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh. She also created a documentary, Traceable, which charts the ways the fast fashion industry disconnects consumers from the process behind manufacturing their clothing and details the challenges of working as a sustainable, ethical fashion designer.
Siegel earned a nomination for Parsons’ Designer of the Year award for her senior work in 2010. She was a CFDA/Lexus Eco-Fashion Challenge finalist in 2014, and has been featured in prestigious industry magazines including Style.com, WWD, Vogue Italia, and Elle.com. Through her feminine, delicate, wearable range of accessories and womenswear, Siegel is giving sustainability the fashionable allure needed to attract a broad following.
