Dean Santalo’s Idea Brought to Life

Behind the “One Percent” Fashion Showcase & a Look Into Santalo’s Creative Background

By Katie Zivley, Co-Editor-in-Chief

When the College of Communication and Design comes together with the College of Business and Management, incredible outcomes can be made.

Dean Cesar Santalo is the expert behind all the designs from the “We Are the One Percent” Sustainability Fashion Showcase at Lynn this year. The dean heard the crisis in fashion from Professor Carlos Rico at Miami Dade College and felt that having a theme in sustainability was a call to action for the Boca community. With the utmost support from the Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Katrina Carter-Tellison, the theme began to execute the collaborative project facilitated and overseen by Roberto Cadilhe, Project Manager of Academic Affairs.

The award-winning visual communications professional has received over 30 awards for his art, creativity and personal touch since 1991. Santalo’s portraits are comprised of a collage of materials such as magazines, newspaper pictures, personal photographs, cloth glued to wood, cardboard and paper. 

“What makes this year’s [fashion show] more special than ever is because I’ve been doing collages for over 30 years,” said Cesar Santalo, Dean of the College of Communication and Design. “The fact that the look and feel of the entire fashion show from the moment that you walk in from the front to the back where the runway [was] completely collage elements.” 

Santalo is a multidisciplinary artist, animator and educator. Santalo had the opportunity to attend the 2023 Latin Grammy’s in Spain due to one of his murals being displayed and nominated for a Latin Grammy. 

“Here I am working on outside projects using my collage and then as Dean, bring in that technique and having it be part of this fashion show is like really tremendous, so even when you walk into the lobby, the lobby is a wallpaper designed by me,” said Santalo. 

For the past 20 years, Santalo has served as an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the University of Miami. He had the chance to teach various subjects from traditional and digital drawing to project budgeting and advanced animation. 

“This design was so important and personal to me because the fact that we can take divergent pieces that don’t normally exist with one another and by reappropriating them and placing them next to each other, we have given them a new purpose and we’ve given them a greater meaning and greater value,” said Santalo, founder of Lynn’s NFT Museum. 

“As you walk in, the first thing you see is a huge 10 to 12 foot circle with the actual colors and logo of the United Nations with a 9 foot tall obelisk showing our logo, and then you have five huge balls, some measure to six feet in diameter, and that shows all of our partnerships that worked on the sustainable goals including Waste Management, Miami Dade College, Upcycle Project, and our College of Communication and Design and the College of Business and Management,” said Santalo. 

“What I love about design and collage is that it takes a lot of different people to work on it,” said Santalo. “Art brings people together and it makes you feel like you’re working on something bigger than yourself.” 

This year’s runway was made from recycled pieces of fabric and signs from two to three years ago that were going to be thrown away. These signs were kept because people started coming from all over Lynn to see what was going on, and then they started to participate in the design process and help out. 

“This technique, this show, this look, is very special and unlike any fashion show you’ll see anywhere because you will never see a fashion show where we took the time to design the floor,” said Santalo. 

Santalo explains that he brought in a set designer from Univision, Luis Mattos, whom he calls his ‘partner in crime’ and worked with for many years to help implement the design for the show. He and Mattos discussed the designs and ideas with the LFS team for what would and would not work. It was the collaboration of this duo and the Lynn University faculty and staff that made this fashion show the best one yet.