Student fashion shows can be a little tricky. Play it too safe and the results will be predictable; go all in for edgy and forward, and garments can become the proverbial kitchen sink. In this Goldielocks tale of sartorial design development, some youngsters get it right. Here is a crop of Bay Area student designers whose well executed graduation collections make them ones to watch.

Collection by Eleonore L. Santos, with textile design student Anna Metzel (Courtesy of Academy of Art University)

Fashion is art—or at least it should be. For her thesis project, Eleonore L. Santos, along with textile design student Anna Metzel, showed a collection inspired by the artist Francis Bacon at Academy of Art University's graduation show. Washes of color evocative of watercolor paint danced against architecturaly severe shapes, which moved away from the body without overwhelming it. An intriguing mashup of hard and soft elements.

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AAU student JC Munoz looked to the sky to find inspiration for his graphic graduation collection, which jetted down the runway with curves and silhouettes reminiscent of F-16 and B-2 fighter planes. Munoz's own textiles demanded attention with strong lines and prints that became all the more bold when layered together.At UC Berkeley's 10th annual FAST (Fashion and Student Trends) fashion show, Soazig Kaam was the revelation of the evening. Closing the show, her vibrant garments were flawlessly made, giving the audience a jolt with their high-drama tribal prints, billowing cuts, and a modern pop of acid yellow.Menswear designer Gyuwon Jeong took aim at a niche population of "vegan gangsters" with a collection that riffed on inspirations from Mexican "Cholombians," the artwork of Maimouna Guerresi, and South Africa's Ndebele tribe. The explosion of references, exaggerated proportions, and new take on menswear staples were a wakeup call the AAU show. Equally impressive were the tribal-meets-geometric patterns of textile design student Jimin A. Kim. Keith Gunning's buzzworthy collection for AAU was inspired by the 1980s legendary Australian designer and performance artist Leigh Bowery. True to Bowery's theatrical antics, Gunning's pieces sounded the alarm with audaciously bright hues of neon neoprene.Mark Figueroa's Fog collection, for the SF Art Institute's Talk Style show, turned out edgy men's fashion that was also wearable. There were whispers of '90s grunge, with moto-style details, skirts that worked, and a futuristic vibe that happened to take inspiration from 17th century Spain. The clothing focused on "gender rhetoric and equalizing genders in the fashion industry." California College of the Arts design student Hao Dong was already on our radar. Her collection addressed such topics as fast fashion, urban life, and pop culture, all in an edgy, futuristic, and colorful way.

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