Next Gen / No Kill: Amelia Yetter on Stitching Stories of Womanhood, Family, and History

Q+A with Amelia Yetter
Pratt Institute BFA ’25

Within the Grove

At No Kill Magazine, we’re after what might change the game — not just what’s next. Some of the sharpest ideas are coming from designers rewriting fashion’s rules.
In Next Gen / No Kill, we spotlight standout fashion graduates whose work opens up new conversations and possibilities. From New York’s top programs and beyond, these are the designers shaping a future of fashion defined by intelligence, creativity, and intention.

What is the inspiration or concept behind your collection?
Within the Grove is an exploration of my relationship with women, craft, and history — specifically reflecting on the connection between the women in my family and the ways that I’m able to express love and honor, paying homage to how women have always been the main supporters of craft and each other. By bridging the experiences of these women I’ve been able to demonstrate how they’ve shaped mine; a sampler of what women have taught me using motifs expressed through hand knitting, cross stitching, hand sewing, weaving, and medieval patterning.

What’s one material or technique you’re currently obsessed with?
Cross-stitching! I’ve been exploring the different ways to apply cross-stitching within the designs of garments a lot this past year. Any sort of needlework is the most meditative aspect of a project for me so I always find myself looking for every excuse to hand sew at any point of the making process.

What does fashion mean to you today?
The ways that I’m able to connect with others is what gives fashion meaning to me.

Nearly all of the materials I use are second hand, sometimes things I’ve saved for years because someone I love gave it to me. Using materials that I find organically creates not only a challenge where I’m designing partly based on how much of a material I have, but figuring out what materials together can provoke specific feelings reflective of a specific point in time.

I’ve found that I just naturally have a gift for gathering materials wherever I go, and the fabrics used in my thesis collection came from walking into random shops throughout Scandinavia, estate sales, professors, family, and friends. Even if I don’t know the person who owned them before, I feel so instantly connected to a place, the people selling/giving me the items, and any stories of what kind of person the previous owner was that I naturally make up. It’s the most meaningful thing to me to know that my work is instantly connected to others out of the pure fact that they had a pre-existing story, and it’s this curation of stories that draws me into creating.

What’s one thing you wish the fashion industry would leave behind—and one thing it should embrace?
Fashion should leave behind the concept that there are specific and ideal ways to be a woman. Womanhood is so personal and trends apply too much pressure on figuring out what that means and looks like for each individual.

Embracing individuality and a process of slow creation/curation has been the best way, for me at least, to explore identity within gender, sexuality, and what it means to me to be womanly.

Who or what has shaped your design values most?
My family! They’re the root of everything I do and I try to put as much care into my work similar to how I would when nourishing the relationships I have with the people I love. Everyone in my family dresses quite casually so I want what I design to be comfortable. Through materials, colors, and surface design I’m really able to express how I feel about the world; what it was, is, and could end up being. I still use the Kenmore sewing machine my dad used when he was younger, so even down to the tools I’m using I find it most enjoyable to create with what other people owned before me.

If you could design for anyone in the world, who would it be—and why?
I’m super into any movies and tv shows that are theatrical or historical and would love to make stuff for fantasy/period pieces. I did a ton of research on medieval clothing and how they were patterned and constructed, so I’d love to put all of that knowledge into something meant to be reflective of/relating to medieval history.

Three things keeping you sane right now
My cat, ’70s/’80s fantasy movies, and biking