IE School of Architecture & Design Celebrates Emerging Fashion Talent at Its Annual Runway
Winning student creations from the School’s Fashion Design programs opened doors to industry collaborations.
Segovia, 29 May 2026 – The Aula Magna at IE University in Segovia became the stage for an immersive live fashion experience during HARVEST26, the annual runway show of IE School of Architecture & Design’s Bachelor in Fashion Design. Combining craftsmanship, storytelling and experimentation, the event featured collections created by first- and second-year students from the Bachelor in Fashion Design and the dual degree in Fashion Design and Business. The awards, granted by an international jury, included collaborations with Scholl and the IE Store, as well as scholarships for the IE Summer School Fashion Styling and Media course.
HARVEST is a celebration of the learning and creative work developed throughout the academic year under the mentorship of fashion designers including Ernesto Naranjo, Edward Cuming, Carlota Barrera, Evangelina Julia and Tíscar Espadas. The runway projects reflected the School’s multidisciplinary approach to fashion education, combining experimentation, technical skills and market awareness through disciplines ranging from textile design and material experimentation to pattern making, branding and production processes.
"We encourage students to develop their own creative voice, but also to understand fashion as a collaborative industry connected to business realities. We want them to create projects that are both conceptually strong and viable within the industry", said Inés Quezada, Academic Director of the fashion design program.
The runway jury brought together professionals from the global fashion and creative industries: Mathias Ohrel, founder of the Paris-based creative recruitment consultancy m-O Conseil; Andrea Collesei, Global CEO of Scholl; Pepa Bueno, Director of the Association of Fashion Creators of Spain; and Gerald Lawrence, Fashion Design tutor at Central Saint Martins.
Second-year students Claudia Martínez Larive (Spain), Lucía Sarria Iraizoz (Spain), and María Martín Nieto (Spain) were selected to collaborate with Scholl on the occasion of the company’s 70th anniversary. Together, they will reinterpret the brand’s iconic sandal through a group project combining product design, branding and packaging development, with mentorship from both School faculty and the Scholl team.
Claudia Martínez Larive’s project examined the DDT crisis in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, using bleached denim and newspaper elements to reflect on propaganda, contamination and the relationship between fashion and political narratives. Lucía Sarria Iraizoz questioned the tension between authenticity and fabrication by exploring how the fashion industry constructs identity and beauty through manipulation, concealment and idealized imagery, using collage, layering and fragmented visuals. And María Martín Nieto investigated the dialogue between streetwear and high fashion, reinterpreting graffiti aesthetics, oversized silhouettes and urban visual codes within a contemporary luxury fashion context.
First-year student Emilia Althaus (Switzerland) received a full scholarship for the IE Summer School Fashion Styling and Media course and, together with Ophelia Mayhew (UK) and Polina Chernova (Russia), were selected to design a capsule collection for the IE Store. Emilia Althaus’ winning project was inspired by Wes Anderson’s cinematic universe and explored theatrical curtains, layered fabrics and draping techniques to create garments resembling the soft folds and structures of stage sets. Ophelia Mayhew translated the visual language of The Royal Tenenbaums into a sculptural garment conceived as a "moving painting", exploring the intersection of fashion and fine art through color blocking, symmetry and deconstructed compositions. Polina Chernova’s project examined representations of the female body through the lens of objectification and idealization, drawing inspiration from Jean-Luc Godard’s film Le Mépris and exploring the relationship between skin, sculpture and the male gaze.
Additionally, Alexandra Goncharova (Russia) and María Martín Nieto (Spain) were announced as the School’s nominees for the CLO EU Rising Talent Award, an international initiative that connects leading European fashion schools with the fashion industry, recognizing excellence in 3D conceptual and technical design and supporting emerging talent through exposure to companies and professionals.
HARVEST 26 also marked the presentation of the limited-edition hoodie developed over the past year by students recognized during the previous edition of the runway in collaboration with Pyratex. The initiative evolved from concept development and prototyping to final production, reflecting the School’s commitment to connecting fashion education with material innovation and real-world production processes.