International runway model: CTE program helped developed passion

Posted On Wednesday June 08, 2022
AustinStoll-Paris
Austin Stoll models for Hermes during a fashion show in Paris, France. Provided Photo.

If you don’t know Austin Stoll by name, you may know him from the company he keeps in the world of fashion.

The 21-year-old model and artist has worked with brands such as Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Coach, Prada and Adidas, taking him from New York City to Los Angeles and to international destinations like Paris, France, Shanghai, China and Seoul, South Korea.

Before reaching such stratospheric heights, he was a student in the Erie 1 BOCES Fashion Design Technology program at the Harkness Career and Technical Center.

“It definitely significantly shifted my career, and helped me in so many ways,” Stoll said.

Stoll, who also works under the aliases Audi or Bizar, admitted he was far from a model student in his classes at East Aurora Union Free School District, struggling to fit in socially and retain information in his classes. Learning about the Erie 1 BOCES program, Stoll said he and his friends asked for special permission to enroll. Immediately, he took a liking to classes that involved drawing clothes and learning about the fashion industry.

“Having a class where that’s what it was, it was the game changer,” Stoll said.

Darlene Borchert, Fashion Design Technology instructor, said she saw in Stoll a very intelligent young man with “a very different outlook on life.”

“He saw things other students didn’t from a creative aspect,” Borchert said.

Among the projects Stoll fondly remembered from his time in the program was working with Borchert to develop a pair of pants made from 16 dress shirts, which he called shants, for the program’s Fusion Fashion Show. Stoll said that despite his struggles focusing on his studies, the upcoming fashion show was something that kept him on track.

Immediately, the shants were a smash hit on social media and when he would wear them in public.

“Anywhere I went people would take pictures,” Stoll said. “That opened doors for people outside of Buffalo to look at my clothes and to look at me and what I was doing.”

Stoll said he was discovered through social media when a talent agent saw images of him modeling his own clothes. A part of Stoll’s look is a gap in his front teeth, a remnant of a sledding crash when he was seven years old.

As his career continues to grow, Stoll said he appreciated the lessons he learned from Ms. Borchert and the fashion program, and that he takes that inspiration with him into his professional work. Stoll even uses a Burnina B-215 sewing machine, purchased for him by his grandmother, which he first used during his time in his fashion classes. Many of his clothing and art pieces draw inspiration from western New York, or the works of his favorite artist, Jim Henson.

“I’m a model, but I also design, and paint,” Stoll said. “The fundamentals of design by itself, I learned through Ms. Borchert and the whole program. A lot of these designers want me to model for them because they see my creations, and they see my love and knowledge for fashion.”

Ms. Borchert said Stoll’s success has helped inspire her current students in the program.

“It’s wonderful to watch him grow up and mature,” she said. “He knew he had this direction, and when he was discovered as a model, it all fell into place for him.”

Stoll said his advice for students pursuing their careers was to not be afraid to share their work.

“If you’re confident with what you’re doing artistically and pursuing your passion, and if you apply yourself and put yourself out there, everything else will follow,” he said.

For more information about the Fashion Design Technology program, visit  www.e1b.org/en/k-12-education-programs/fashion-design-technology.aspx