Artwear 2026
Crystal Ballroom • 55 Davis Square (Somerville Theatre building)
Thursday, April 30, 2026 • Doors open 6 pm, show begins at 7 pm
Download the Artwear 2026 Program Guide here:
Photo by Grace DuVal of Martha Friend‘s work worn by Ruth Faris
The term Artwear refers to clothing and other wearables designed as conceptual or fine art. Artwear operates outside of the boundaries normally presented in fashion to favor an approach that prioritizes style and vision.
This year’s SOS fashion show will once again be held at the Crystal Ballroom in Davis Square on Thursday, April 30, 2026. The Crystal Ballroom is directly above the Somerville Theatre. Doors open at 6pm for cocktail hour with the show beginning at 7pm; seating is first come, first served. The venue will have a full bar and runway seating. The event is free for the public to view original textile art by Somerville artists!
Thank you to our sponsors!
Artwear is presented with support by grants from Somerville Open Studios and the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The official SOS Fashion Show is organized and produced by Lexie Hofer.
Our 2026 Designers:
Alexis Orellana
Born and raised in New Orleans, I’ve called six cities home including Pittsburgh, New York City, Madrid, Philadelphia, and have lived in Somerville for most of the last 20 years. Growing up with creative parents in a city that celebrates absolutely everything gave me the foundation for my life as a maker. I’m inspired by the nostalgia of being a kid, putting on layers of clashing patterns, and strutting around unapologetically visible before the world tells you to tone it down.
I’ve never understood waiting for special occasions to celebrate. I’m a big fan of sequins at the grocery store, dance parties on Mondays, and creating beauty from unexpected things. I work mostly with reclaimed materials because I’m always chasing the thrill of the transformation, of turning something destined for a landfill into something unexpected.
In addition to making art from trash I’m an event planner and operations director, and co-own Dos Manos Kitchen with my husband. We’re grateful to be raising our daughter in Somerville and couldn’t be prouder than when she declares “No! Don’t throw that away! I can make something with it!”
Consuelo Perez
Consuelo Perez is a visionary fashion designer whose work combines historical elegance with a modern, sustainable twist. Drawing inspiration from the opulence of Marie Antoinette’s court, Consuelo reimagines the extravagant style of the 18th century through innovative designs crafted from recycled materials. Her unique approach to fashion not only pays homage to the past but also champions environmental responsibility, proving that luxury and sustainability can coexist. Consuelo’s collections are a fusion of art, history, and conscience, creating timeless pieces that make a bold statement both aesthetically and ethically.
Diama Ndati Thiam (Jee-ah-ma N-da-tee Cham)
Ndeye Diama Thiam, also known as Diama Ndati, is a Senegalese multidisciplinary artist and fashion designer. Originally trained as a biochemist, she transitioned into the arts to explore identity, culture, and feminine strength through fashion and visual art.
She is the founder of NDATI, an ethical fashion brand that merges traditional African craftsmanship with contemporary design. Her work highlights handwoven textiles, natural batik, and collaborations with skilled artisans across Africa. Through her designs, she elevates African heritage into modern luxury while promoting sustainability, cultural storytelling and universal connections.
Eleanor Ramsay
Eleanor Ramsay’s artistic background includes a career in graphic art, technology, and theater production. She is currently designing bold repeat patterns and large digital illustrations for fabric and other substrates. Drawing inspiration from the intricate beauty of natural forms and saturated colors her designs combine hand drawn illustrations, folk motifs, and abstract patterns.
Elisabeth Delehaunty
I learned my craft mostly thanks to some amazing women; costume designers, women with sewing businesses, my mom. Love color play, hate waste. Upcycling clothing since 1996. Piecing, appliqué, dyeing. Design my own patterns. After 25 years in Colorado, I relocated back to my home state of MA in 2023, and Somerville in fall 2025. Recycling is central to my work. I am inspired by the challenge to make something new that isn’t MORE.
Grace DuVal
Grace DuVal (she/her) is an internationally exhibited Wearable Artist, Designer, and Photographer based in Somerville, MA, USA. DuVal’s work moves freely between garment, photography, performance, and collaboration — combining a lifelong career as a photographer with her degrees in sculpture and fashion to create otherworldly garments and visual experiences. The resulting pieces are large and sculptural, transforming the body into something unrecognizable and otherworldly. DuVal collectively creates larger-than-life site-specific installations, performances, and photo shoots with fellow artists and performers, using her garments to generate breathtaking still and moving imagery.
Hanna Norris
I have had the amazing opportunity of being able to explore several mediums including printmaking, panting, drawing, dyeing, knitting, and sewing. When I was younger I used to make dresses out of newspapers, cards, and (my favorite) tampons. I then studied fiber science as an undergraduate to combine my interest of arts and sciences. This past year, I was lucky enough to find a studio space and have been making one of a kind pieces that I sell in the Boston area.
Jessamy Shay Kilcollins
I am a textile artist, educator, and sustainable fashion designer who uses secondhand materials and handcraft processes to interrogate the roles of consumption and consumerism in modern society. Since 2022, I have taught mending and hand stitching at organizations that include Harvard Art Museums, the Farnsworth Art Museum, Patagonia, and the Boston and Cambridge Public Libraries. I hold a BFA in Fibers and a Certificate in Fashion Design from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In January 2020, I was one of eight designers from the Northeast selected to participate in a sustainable fashion design competition called Project Upcycle, and my look was awarded second place. A native of Northern Maine, I split my time between Somerville MA and Midcoast Maine.
Lexie Butterfly
Lexie Hofer is a vintage focused, Clown Couturier who works solely with vintage fabrics of the psychedelic persuasion. After much of her childhood was spent playing dress up in her mother’s vintage clothing, Lexie developed an undying love for the history of garments and the stories they tell. She also grew up as an odd size for most produced clothing wearing mostly pants that looked like she was waiting for the flood and tops with sleeves so short they looked as if she borrowed from a younger sibling’s closet. This pet peeve led her to be the self-taught sewing monster that she is today; making custom clothes for all body types and genders. This year, Lexie is presenting a retrospective journey of psychedelic prints featuring warm weather feelings and dopamine disasters.
Levon Delmonico
I’m a sixteen-year-old aspiring fashion designer and student at Somerville highschool. I’ve been making clothes for about 2 years now and It’s my biggest passion. I’m the president fashion club and I led the costumes crew for two of my school’s theatre productions. I showcased my “fashionable farmstead” collection that focused on combing fashion and farm workwear, this year I am focused on a more sleek summer wear collection. I strive to create with recycled materials and try to keep my work sustainable and lasting.
Olivia Hochstadt
Olivia (she/her) is a Boston-based knitwear designer, yarn spinner and dyer. In 2021, while pursuing a BA in Art History and Spanish at Colby College, she was awarded the first-ever Colby Global Fellowship to study knitwear in Shetland, the Faroe Islands, and Chile. Olivia has received residencies from Junction Garden, a natural dye farm in central Maine, and has shown her work in a solo shows at the The Foundry and Maine Jewish Museum as well as group shows at Gallery 263, Boston Fiber Company, and Behind VA Shadows in Boston. Olivia shares her passion for fiber art by teaching classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and local fiber studios.
Renée Fritschel
Renée Fritschel began creating when she learned how to sew at the age of 6. Textiles were, and still are, an important framework for how she sees the world; pattern, texture, and layering now influence her work as a painter and printmaker. She often thinks about systems of decay and change that mark time within the landscape, translating these ideas through thread and paint. She is the co-creator of SCEPTER, an artist-interview publication with her friend Maitreya Ravenstar, and in general loves talking to and collaborating with other artists.
S D Armour
My wish is to inspire all who see my artwork to look again at the old, rejected, so-called “worthless” scraps of our natural and industrial world and to find nourishment, inspiration and a deeper seeing of the art that can be found in the world around us.
Throughout my life I’ve been torn between a career in science and the creative arts; I constantly seek balance between the two. My truly frugal nature leads me to making fine crafts and functionality in the things I make. I am known in the community for my life accessories, toys and gifts that use uniquely repurposed materials
Stephanie Shields
Stephanie Shields is an artist who comes from a long line of makers. Her mother is a quilter and a painter and her father was a tool and die maker who made black powder rifles and other guns and knives. She began hand sewing when she was 5 and by the age of 8 made her first original project – a wallet shaped like a frog. She later began using sewing machines, and making costumes for LARP. She expanded into leathercraft, and then picked up forging, chasing and repousse about ten years ago and recently began learning to block felt hats. She especially enjoys multimedia projects where she can use these various skills.
She enjoys teaching leathercraft, basic sewing and hand embroidery classes at maker spaces, clubs and conventions.
She is inspired by nature, colors, music, books and films. She loves plants and trees from her experience being an indoor and outdoor gardener. She enjoys fashion very much and is very excited to bring her unique creations to ArtWear 2026.
Stina Simmarano
Stina Simmarano is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Somerville since 2010. Currently fixated on fiber art and slow fashion and called to work with discards, scraps and secondhand materials, often combining multiple fiber disciplines in a single piece. A lexicon of familiar imagery and color forms a cohesive thread across the various media she works in from crochet to rugmaking to dance. Forever examining the concepts of waste and consumption in both life and studio practice.
Like what you see? Take a look at the designers featured in last year’s Artwear event.
Photo by Grace DuVal of the Artwear 2025 program