Berkeley High senior Gavin Trotmore was selected as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts for his nature-inspired fashion designs. Trotmore was one of 20 students to earn the nationwide arts award and one of 161 to earn the Presidential Scholar Award, given annually to outstanding high school seniors.
For the portfolio he submitted for the award, Trotmore designed several garments inspired by nature: a two-piece set made from recycled denim, dyed in the style of an iridescent frog with mounded flare bottoms; pants embroidered with thick, hand-woven yarn made to look like moss and a lichen-covered trucker hat.
“My presented pieces reintroduce us to garments we have seen before, but with unorthodox twangs of growth, life, and texture,” he wrote in an artist statement about his designs. Trotmore’s AP Studio Art teacher, Miriam Stahl, was also honored as Trotmore’s most influential teacher. She will receive a personal letter from the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardon.
By designing garments that look and feel alive, Trotmore, 17, prompts questions about the relationship between the environment and fashion and urges viewers to get comfortable with things that defy conventional categories.
Trotmore, who is mixed-race and grew up with two moms, has spent his life not fitting into the boxes people tried to put him in.
“I think the world would be a better place if people could see something and not immediately have to categorize it,” he said. “I really like making things that are inspired by nature, but I feel like it’s more about making things that people don’t necessarily understand initially from a first glance.”
Trotmore uses recycled materials in his work, in part as an effort to reduce his own impact on the environment. “It’s just necessary, at this point, if you’re interested in something like fashion to think about the imprint you’re leaving on the earth,” he said.
