SUMMER RESIDENCY SHOWCASE 2025

Will White is a fashion designer, illustrator, and public-facing event producer working at the intersection of high fashion and fine art. Though largely self-taught as a designer, he holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Merchandising from Howard University in Washington, D.C. His work is often defined by a bold, avant-garde aesthetic, underscored by themes of structure and flow, armor and vulnerability, masculinity and femininity. While traditional visual artists may use paint, brushes, and canvas, Will tells his stories through textiles, thread, and boundless imagination. 

“Last Street Laundry” is Will’s homage to childhood summers spent with his grandparents on Wadmalaw Island—a narrative made real in the accompanying video which depicts the actual backdrop of much of his childhood. As their first grandchild, Will was always at his Grams’ side, and Saturdays meant laundry: washing clothes, hanging them on the line, folding, and pressing garments for Sunday church. It was during these “Dr. Quinn backed” rituals that Will first learned the art of pressing—a foundational moment in his creative journey. 

With the passing of his grandparents, Will has reflected deeply on how those formative moments helped shape the artist he has become. Last Street Laundry confronts the contrast between the peaceful, rural summers of his youth and the high-paced, expressive world of avant-garde fashion where he now lives and creates. Through the right lens, these seemingly opposing worlds find harmony. The piece becomes a love letter—where past and present meet to shape a future.