Fashion Design MFA students, in consultation with world-renowned designer Bart Hess, designed a garment that will be part of his Unwearable Collection, a collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim. The collection interprets the devastating impact and unpredictability of a rare skin disease, generalized pustular psoriasis (GPP), through fashion. The new piece brings to life one of the most common experiences of people with GPP: the emotional uncertainty of how it will impact their life each day, and how others will perceive them.
GPP is a potentially life-threatening disease characterized by widespread eruptions of painful pustules across the body. Patients say the pain is equivalent to “10,000 papercuts.” Flares can greatly affect a person’s quality of life both physically and emotionally, and in severe cases, lead to complications including heart failure, renal failure, sepsis, and death.