Spider fashion designer explores new creative avenues in Greece

In an intimate gallery in Kavala, Greece, Kadeem Alphanso Fyffe, ’13, recently shared his 18-piece collection of couture design illustrations to locals who filtered through the doors. The works — a culmination of a three-week art residency — were inspired by the experience of being an American abroad and at a seaside city with a budding art scene.

This residency — through a program called Eutopia: Sea and Urbanism — was a revisiting of Fyffe’s artistic roots, drawing from his senior thesis collection of fashion illustrations and highly conceptual garments, including a silk floor-length gown, that were shown in the Harnett Museum at UR’s Modlin Center for the Arts.

Fyffe, in keeping with his personal style, designed his own academic path at UR. He combined a studio art major with women, gender and sexuality studies (WGSS), weaving together costume design, social impact, and fine arts to study fashion.

Following graduation, Fyffe leveraged his portfolio to attend the Parsons School of Design. “That experience really helped launch me into the New York Fashion industry,” Fyffe said. “It led me to my first industry job, working on the womenswear collection team for Micheal Kors.” Since then, he has spent more than a decade in the commercial fashion industry, authored a book for emerging designers (Threading the Needle), and debuted at the Kennedy Center with a three-piece couture collection celebrating the iconic styles worn by Black women at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2024.

In Greece, Fyffe had the opportunity to explore beyond the bounds of American fashion. “I felt very free and able to be my authentic self abroad because there were no preconceived notions of who or what I was supposed to be,” Fyffe said.

Despite being the only artist in the Sea and Urbanism program with fashion illustration as their medium, Fyffe leaned in, using vibrant watercolor to explore the female form both in the natural environment and in the context of the Greek Orthodox church. “There are moments where I play with the fact that I am in a very modest culture, and I am in many ways immodest with my design and personality,” Fyffe said. “I wanted to pay reverence to the culture but also evoke my experience in it.”

This residency was part of a broader public initiative to bring art and artists into Kavala, a northern Greek city which has historically had more limited access to them than places like Athens and the Greek islands. “While I was there, I had people literally ask me, ‘What is the point of art?” Fyffe said. “Ultimately I believe our job as artists is to reflect society back to itself.”

As part of this reflection, Fyffe will showcase his works and create several custom garments back in New York, bringing a piece of the small oceanside town to a metropolis brimming with style. “Custom pieces can help someone feel confident, be their shield or their armor that they put on to go out into the world and reflect who they are,” Fyffe said. “No matter where I am, I want to empower the people who are wearing my clothes, even if that is a 2D figure in a sketch.”