When she thinks back on all that has transpired over the past two years, Cecelia “Cece” Kirk is still a bit in awe.
A 2024 graduate of Kent State University’s acclaimed School of Fashion, Kirk had a simple conversation with an industry professional that not only garnered her first job but led to the fashion school playing a key role in the North American debut of a private collection of Salvador Dalí paintings.
“It’s really been wild to think about because the story has been building over time, but in the past few months, it’s just been wild to watch it come to fruition,” Kirk said.
It began in the summer of 2023, when Kirk, a fashion merchandising major, was interning Marc Nelson Denim, a luxury men’s clothing store in her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.
Paolo Torello-Viera, president of Tailoring Americas for the Belgian-based luxury textile company Scabal, was visiting Nelson, a longtime friend and client. When it was time for Torello-Viera to leave, Nelson asked Kirk to drive him to the airport to save him from having to call a ride service.
Along the 15-mile trek to the airport, Kirk did what any enthusiastic intern does when given the opportunity to meet an industry professional: she networked. Kirk chatted with Torello-Viera about Kent State’s fashion school and her career ambitions, and before he left the car, she asked him for his business card.
Torello-Viera recalls the meeting and remembers how surprised he was to learn about Kent State and its internationally ranked fashion school, which, up until then, was not on his radar.
Kirk spent the 2023 Fall Semester at the Kent State Florence program but held on to that business card. When it was time for her to head back to the U.S., Kirk reached out to Torello-Viera and asked if there was an opportunity for an internship with Scabal in New York City.
“I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason,” Torello-Viera said. “I hired her as an intern; I gave her that opportunity and I was blessed because now she’s a full-time employee at Scabal.”
While Kirk was interning at Scabal USA in the summer of 2024, Torello-Viera started asking questions about Kent State, its fashion school and its Florence program. “I didn’t know anything about Kent State,” he said. “Since I’m Italian, I was very intrigued by your Florence program.”
Torello-Viera said Kirk was one of the best interns he had ever hired and wanted to learn more about the university that produced such quality students. Kirk helped to connect Torello-Viera with fashion school administrators and soon, a new friendship between Kent State and a fashion industry powerhouse was blossoming.
Kirk said after learning of Torello-Viera’s connections to fabric houses in Italy, and having spent a semester in Florence, she felt that his relationships could help to benefit future fashion students in the Florence program.
“My goal was to be able to give students an opportunity the way that I was given because I felt so lucky just to be so involved in Kent’s Florence program,” she said.
Mourad Krifa, Ph.D., the Margaret Clark Morgan Director of the School of Fashion, said the relationship is proof that the school’s students are its greatest capital.
“Our students who end up interning for companies and then working for those companies are our best ambassadors and our best representatives,” Krifa said.
When her internship was over, Kirk continued to work for Scabal in New York part-time while she completed her final semester at the fashion school’s New York Studio, and immediately after her December 2024 graduation, began working at Scabal full-time.
Only the Beginning
Kirk’s job, however, was only the beginning of the magical partnership between Scabal and Kent State that would culminate in June with the Dalí exhibit.
Scabal, founded in 1938 in Brussels, Belgium, by Otto Hertz, operates as a manufacturer, wholesaler and retailer worldwide, producing luxury fabric at its own mill in Huddersfield, England, cut fabric for the bespoke tailoring industry and its own line of menswear under the Scabal Tailored and Sportswear collections.
In 1971, Hertz commissioned Spanish artist Salvador Dalí, one of the leaders of the surrealist movement in art, to create a set of paintings inspired by his vision of what menswear would look like in the year 2000. The result was 12 images of future fashion through Dalí’s unique lens.
“Dalí’s proposition was that all styles would co-exist peacefully so that every person would be able to individualize his or her own look, as he would have done himself,” the company explained. “This philosophy is shared with the company, as we are always looking for ways to break new ground in the field of fabric design with the independent spirit of an artist.”
The artwork has never been on display in North America and has rarely been displayed in Europe. Torello-Viera previously had asked for and was granted permission to bring the art to the U.S. for an exhibition. That’s when his wheels really began to turn.
“I started thinking, how can we make this different?” he said. “How can we make this a fully integrated, 360-degree project?”
Hello Dalí
Torello-Viera visited Kent State in October 2024, and Krifa hosted him for dinner along with Rick Kellar, president and CEO of Peg’s Foundation and member of the fashion school’s advisory board.
Peg’s Foundation is a philanthropic organization in Hudson, Ohio, that supports mental health programs, arts and education, and is a generous supporter of Kent State’s fashion school, endowing its directorship with the name of Peg’s Foundation founder, Margaret Clark Morgan.
“We started talking about the possibilities of leveraging every one of these organizations’ strengths for the good of our students, to the benefit of our students, because that’s what we are always after,” Krifa said.
That’s when the subject of the Dalí paintings came up.
When Torello-Viera suggested bringing the Dalí pieces to Peg’s Gallery for their North American debut, Kellar said he was a bit taken aback. The new art gallery at Peg’s Foundation had barely been open for a few weeks at the time and the idea of bringing a never-before-seen collection of Dalís to the space seemed an impossibility.
“You’re going to bring Dalí paintings to Hudson, Ohio?” was Kellar’s first reaction. “I feel like they belong at the Met [Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York]. But then I remembered our founder, Peg Morgan, always said, ‘Think bigger.’”
Torello-Viera was eager to get the students involved, and the idea was born to use the paintings as inspiration for student designs and to display their work along with the Dalí paintings.
Student Design Project
In January, Jacqueline Hughes, a lecturer in the fashion school, and Daniel Fladung, assistant professor in Kent State's School of Fashion – teaching partners in design courses for upper-level undergraduate students – were tasked with creating a class project for the 2025 Spring Semester in which they challenged their students to use the Dalí paintings as inspiration for a new design envisioning the future of fashion.
The idea of having their work displayed alongside paintings that garnered widespread interest from the media and art community was a heady proposition for the students.
“When they first introduced the project to us, I was a little bit nervous because it was a heavy task to create something that was going to be featured alongside Salvador Dalí, which is such a big name,” said Maya Settimi, a junior fashion design major from Richmond, Kentucky. “So, it had to be top-tier work so that it wouldn’t look bad compared to his artwork.”
Settimi designed a pair of white palazzo pants made of intricate pleats that take on the appearance of a full pleated skirt. When the pleats are spread open, they reveal hand-painted butterflies on the fabric – an inspiration from the many butterflies Dalí featured in the Scabal collection of paintings.
The top is adorned with a pair of giant stuffed hands that grope the torso of the wearer. “The hands were another motif that Dalí uses in his works in general,” Settimi explained. “I do want the viewer to be a little bit uncomfortable by this, but there’s also the element of beauty with the butterflies, and it’s just the yin and yang of life. There are going to be things that are uncomfortable. There are going to be things that are beautiful, but it all comes together.”
An Exhibit Is Born
Students spent the next four months working on their designs, which, in late April, were presented for review to Torello-Viera, Krifa, Kellar and Courtney Cable, lead of arts and communications for Peg’s Foundation.
“I was beyond impressed,” Torello-Viera said of the students’ designs. “They are the upcoming generation, and it is their time to grow and to shine.”
More than 30 student designs were selected for a runway show that took place at a VIP opening reception at Peg’s Gallery on June 11 in advance of the public exhibit, “Dalí Beyond Time, Fashioning the Future,” which took place June 12-July 5. The show included four designs that students created specifically using Scabal fabrics and a collection of Dalí-designed jewelry.
At the June event, Torello-Viera presented six students with Dalí Vision Awards, with a winner and two runners-up each in the categories of creativity and craftsmanship.
Amanda Le, a fashion design major from Columbus, Ohio, who won the craftsmanship category, said the design project was daunting, but she relied on her concentration in knitwear to create a garment that was unusual and illustrated her knitting skills. Her design was a knitwear mini dress in shades of green with a hooded knit overlay and layered puffed sleeves.
Runners-up in the craftsmanship category were fashion design students Avery Taylor of Galion, Ohio, and Cheyenne Jones of Cleveland, Ohio.
Ashleigh Stephenson, a fashion design major from Hermitage, Pennsylvania, was named the winner in the creativity category.
“I can’t imagine a bigger honor,” she said.
Stephenson’s design was a long ivory dress with a black overlay print made of ripstop nylon strings, with wings on the back to reflect Dalí’s use of butterflies in his art.
“Kent State has been awesome,” Stephenson said. “I came here not knowing how to sew at all, so the fact that I can do something like this is proof that anyone can do it and how great of a school Kent is that they give us the tools to succeed.”
Runners-up in the creativity category were Settimi and Morgan McDermott of Chicago, Illinois.
Off to New York
As part of their prize, the winners were awarded $500 in Scabal fabric and a trip to New York in late July, to see their garments on display alongside the Dalí works at B&B Italia, a luxury furniture brand that hosted the New York debut of the art. The Dalís returned to Scabal’s Belgium headquarters in early August.
During their visit, the students got to meet Stefano Rivera, CEO of Scabal, and spend a day at Scabal’s showroom where they selected their fabrics.
“The students got to see fabrics way beyond what you can find at any fabric retailer. They had gold-plated and diamond-spun plaids, which were over-the-top luxurious,” Fladung said. “Typically, our students don’t have the exposure to that sort of luxury fabric to work with, so I am so excited to see what they come up with!”
Capitalizing on Collaboration
Krifa said cultivating connections and collaborations within the fashion industry and the larger community expands the Kent State family. Kent State, Scabal and Peg’s Foundation are committed to growing future collaborations.
“It is our goal to build on this unique experience to provide all future cohorts of students at Kent State’s School of Fashion with opportunities of such significance,” Krifa said.
Peg’s Foundation has previously partnered with Kent State in various ways, but Kellar said this was its most exciting collaboration yet.
“Peg’s Foundation has a deep legacy interest in the fashion school because it was a passion for our founder, Peg Morgan,” he said.
Morgan, who grew up in Kent and attended Kent State for two years, was dedicated to fashion and was a close friend of Elizabeth Rhodes, the first director of the fashion school.
“This event came to life in a way that I couldn't have imagined,” Kellar said. “I saw the opportunity for Kent State fashion design and merchandising students, who I believe are best in class.”
Kellar also shared his excitement for Peg’s Foundation.
“It’s everything our founder would dream about, having the passion of mental health, arts, education, partnering with Kent State and industry leaders and putting that on display in her hometown,” Kellar said. “The way we measure success is ‘Hey, Peg would be proud,’ so that’s what we’re after.”
Being part of an event with such a high impact, not only for students, but for the entire community, exemplifies what Kent State is all about, Krifa said.
“At Kent State, we value the human connections, and we value the sense of community that we all share,” he said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us and for our students.”
As for the future partnerships between Scabal and Kent State, Torello-Viera said, “The sky’s the limit.”
Torello-Viera has since taken on another intern from Kent State’s fashion school and has decided to offer a standing internship to a Kent State fashion student.
“I’m extremely proud and honored to be part of this project because it was something unique that we were able to purvey and it could not have been done so successfully without the help and the contribution of Kent State, not only the students but the whole faculty and Peg’s Foundation,” he said.
The Scabal partnership represents a new industry connection in European luxury menswear for Kent State, and already Torello-Viera has connected Kent State’s Florence program to the luxury fabric mills of his hometown of Biella, Italy, in the Piedmont region, as well as other industry professionals throughout Europe to offer lectures and other presentations to Kent State students.
After a long and successful career in fashion with helpful mentors along the way, Torello-Viera said it is time for him to pay it forward.
“It is my time to give back,” he said. “So, when I see the students at Kent State are so interested, so involved, it is my role and my duty to give back and try to grow this relationship to their benefit to the best of my ability.”
The exhibit of Kent State student designs, along with copies of the Dalí paintings, remains on display through September 2025 at Peg’s Gallery, 53 First St., Hudson, Ohio. Peg’s Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday; 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; closed Sundays and holidays.
