By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HERALD SQUARE — Pratt students turned Macy's display windows into a work of art Thursday.
"Pratt + Paper & Ralph Pucci" feature dresses and window decorations made of delicate paper designed to compliment Ralph Pucci's Spring 2011 "GIRL 2" mannequins used for the display showcases.
"It's beautiful work," Dominican Republic fashion designer Janny Polanco, 52, said as she was walking by. "It's like you bring the museum to the people, like they understand art through fashion."
Designed by fashion design, fine arts, industrial design and interior design students, the work is part of an exhibition that was on view at Pucci's Gallery Nine Showroom in December 2010.
The students' designs emerged from a semester-long class focused on texture and form. The final designers were then selected by a panel of judges.
"This exhibition truly highlights Pratt's exceptional programs and superb students who aspire to work in the art and design fields," said Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, acting chair of the Pratt Fashion Design Department.
"In every piece, the paper was transformed to a point where we no longer see it for what it was, but it becomes something completely new and unexpected," she added.
Paul Olszewski, Macy Herald Square's director of windows, chose the work because he said he knew a good thing when he saw it.
"As soon as I saw the students' work I knew immediately I wanted to showcase it in our Broadway windows," he said. "The creativity and craftsmanship that the students exhibited on this project is just amazing."
"It is this fusion between art and fashion that really makes our windows unique and working on this collaboration has been no exception," he added.
Onlookers agreed.
"I think it's exquisite," Toronto resident Shawna Kosnik, 26, said. "The rope, especially. I mean, I love the dress, but the rope — the texture is great."
