Fashion designer Nico Salado returned to Marblehead last week to share his success story with students in teacher Molly Hauptman’s art class at the Veterans School homecoming. Salado was Hauptmann’s student 10 years ago.
Now 22 years old, Salado has her own fashion line based in Boston. He told the students that his interest in fashion began in the veterans lunchroom.
Fashion designer Nico Salado gives tips on backpack design projects to art students at the Veterans Affairs Academy. Current Photos / Lee Brander
“I saw someone wearing sneakers called Jordans, and I really liked them,” he said. “I saw people on Instagram wearing nice sneakers and nice clothes. My mom took me to do an internship at[sneaker boutique]Laced in Boston.”
For his MHS senior project, Salado worked at a tailor in Boston.
“He taught me how to sew,” Salado said.
Thanks to that senior project, he was far ahead of his peers when he began studying fashion at Framingham State University.
Nico Salado poses with Molly Hauptmann, art teacher at the Veterans Affairs School, during Salado’s recent visit to the school.
Salado wrote college essays about being a student at METCO in Marblehead from second through 12th grades.
Fashion designer Nico Salado, who attended the Marblehead school as a METCO student, shows off his parachute bag designs.
“I realized that the more stories we shared, the more we had in common,” Salado wrote. “What we’ve learned is that just because we come from different backgrounds or look different, we don’t face the same challenges or yearn to be accepted or to be something great about ourselves.” That doesn’t mean we don’t have the same goal of doing it.”
He received a four-year full scholarship to Framingham State University and spent six months studying fashion in Florence, Italy.
Salado showed the students his latest designs, including parachute skirts and bags. He explained that the purpose of design is to address problems and listed seven steps in the design process.
Understand the problem you are trying to solve. Please research. Create a concept based on your research. Create a prototype. Test your prototype. Modify the design to address the issue. repeat.
Good design has four elements, he added. It needs to be functional, aesthetically pleasing, easy to use and sustainable.
Seventh graders in Hauptmann’s class are working on their own designs for backpacks. One boy shared his idea of inventing a compression system that would cause a pencil to pop out when a button was pressed.
When asked what advice she would give her seventh-grade self, Salado said, “Don’t be afraid to fail. You’ll never get everything right on the first try. It’s all possible. You just have to keep trying.”
That message resonated with student Luke Whipple.
“He was disappointed, but he didn’t give up,” Whipple said.
For more information about Salado designs, visit nikosalado.com.
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