13 Emerging Designers You’ll Soon Obsess

College wasn't quite my scene. I always associated school with unnecessary homework and cramming for subjects I'd never use again, and I'm just not on board with drinking my beer out of red plastic cups. But, a visit to the Savannah College of Art and Design changed my tune pretty quickly. No, I wasn't brushing up on my studies (although I totally would — the campus is awesome), I had the privilege of peeping the work of this year’s graduating class before everyone else. Finally, a reason to sit at the head of the class, err, runway.

I grabbed my seersucker suit, packed my bags, and joined ‘70s icon Stephen Burrows as he received the André Leon Talley Lifetime Achievement Award (with longtime friend model Pat Cleveland dancing by his side), and then watched the school’s top 27 designers send their final projects down the runway. From an intensely graphic line that rivals Peter Pilotto to evening wear at its finest, these collections delivered — almost more than the second helping of grits you know I had. Click through to catch snaps of my southern adventure and get to know the names that are sure to blow up in three...two...