Susan Cianciolo—this year’s recipient of the CFDA’s Isabel Toledo Board of Directors Tribute—hasn’t been a regular fixture on the official New York Fashion Week schedule for years. Yet, her quiet, steady influence continues to be acutely felt in the work of a rising generation of designers. These emerging talents are following her lead, carving out fresh, meaningful ways to exist soulfully within a notoriously fractured and fast-paced industry.
For dedicated fans of independent fashion, Cianciolo’s legendary Run collections of the 1990s remain part of an indie grail. In an era often dominated by rigid corporate structures and hyper-commercialized runways, her multimedia presentations served as radical departures. Staged in intimate art galleries and, memorably, once in a parking lot, her shows seamlessly brought together community, artistic expression, upcycling, and spirituality.
Cianciolo’s work has always been an organic extension of her life rather than a detached commercial enterprise. Her presentations blurred the lines between high art, performance, and everyday existence. At one unforgettable show, she treated attendees to homemade chocolate treats crafted using a beloved aunt’s personal recipe. True to her communal ethos, she regularly called upon her close friends to model her creations, including cultural icons like Kim Gordon, for whom Cianciolo briefly worked at X-Girl.
Given Cianciolo’s deeply unconventional, fiercely personal approach to fashion, it is both surprising and thrilling that a distinct "School of Cianciolo" has quietly emerged in New York City. This network of creative "graduates" includes Giovanna Flores and SC103 cofounders Claire McKinney and Sophie Andes-Gascon, all of whom studied under or worked directly with the designer. Beyond her former students, prominent contemporary designers like Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta belong to this extended community. As vocal admirers of Cianciolo’s pioneering work, they regularly book her to walk in their own runway shows. Furthermore, she has made frequent appearances on the runway for her close friend and collaborator Maryam Nassir Zadeh.
To understand the enduring weight of her impact, one only needs to look to the designers who learned directly from her perspective.
Mentorship and the Holistic Artist
Giovanna Flores had Cianciolo as a teacher during her sophomore year, later interning for the designer before assisting her professionally after graduation.
"Susan was, is, and forever will be, such a great inspiration to me, not only in the way she makes work, but in the way she lives her life—the way she keeps her spaces, the way she cooks, the way she dresses, and the way she invites people into her home," Flores reflects. "There is something so inspiring about her holistic way of being an artist, something I had never really encountered before knowing her. Her practice extends into every aspect of her life, and I think that has had a profound influence on me."
For Flores, certain phrases from her mentor continue to serve as a daily compass in her own design studio. "’You have to make your own quality. Choose your own quality,’ is something she once told me that has always stayed with me," Flores says. "I find myself returning to those words constantly in my own practice. To me, it’s about making choices that feel true to the work and to myself, rather than accepting the way things are conventionally done or how they’re expected to be. It’s about defining for yourself what something should be and what makes it good. I think that’s something so present in Susan’s work. There is such a strong sense of her own choices, her own standards, and her own way of seeing things."
Generosity, Trust, and Community
This ethos of care and integrity left an equally lasting mark on SC103 co-founder Sophie Andes-Gascon, who studied fashion illustration with Cianciolo and subsequently interned for her.
"I have been moved by Susan’s generosity and trust," Andes-Gascon shares. "Her inclusivity and care were confidence building for me as a young person learning from her. I will never forget her speaking about the care with which studio items need to be folded after I quickly and haphazardly stuffed fabric into a drawer once. I was grateful to have been led with warmth and conscientiousness."
Fellow SC103 co-founder Claire McKinney also studied fashion illustration under Cianciolo. Beyond the classroom and the local studio, McKinney participated in a transformative international exchange led by the designer. During the program, Pratt students traveled to Germany to collaborate directly with Ines Kaag and Desiree Heiss of the creative duo BLESS, along with their protégés. The German artists later traveled to New York, where the combined body of work resulting from the cross-continental exchange was exhibited at Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s shop.
"That experience continues to be monumentally informative to my work," McKinney notes. "It couldn’t have made the impact it did had it not been for Susan’s eagerness to connect people, open doors, and expand minds. Her heart and spirit was infused into every group studio session and shared meal we were all so lucky to be a part of. I’m incredibly grateful."
Susan Cianciolo on the Runway
While Cianciolo’s own legendary presentations from the 1990s cemented her status as an avant-garde pioneer, her presence within the contemporary New York fashion community remains robust. Over the years, her enduring relationships with younger designers have manifested in a deeply heartwarming tradition: walking as a runway model for brands that share her reverence for independence, texture, and artistic freedom.
From her regular turns on the catwalk for Eckhaus Latta—spanning multiple seasons from their spring collections through their fall presentations—to her frequent appearances with Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Cianciolo has gracefully bridged generations. Rather than operating in isolation, her receipt of the CFDA’s Isabel Toledo Board of Directors Tribute acknowledges an artist whose foundational spirit lives on, worn proudly on the runways of the very designers she inspired, nurtured, and championed.
