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(11/05/25) BATON ROUGE, La. — An LSU senior, majoring in textiles, apparel and merchandising, won the prestigious International Textile and Apparel Association Blanche Payne award for a garment she designed using alligator leather. Martha Rigney’s “Bayou Bride” gown, and the research that went into creating it with imperfect alligator skin, alongside digital textile prints, was supported by an LSU College of Agriculture undergraduate research grant and the Louisiana Sea Grant.
Rigney’s bridal design tells the story of the Louisiana bride while showcasing sustainability efforts for the oversupply of low-grade wild alligator skins. Her inspiration comes from her sister’s upcoming wedding and symbols of the south such as the magnolia flower, which is a featured embellishment.
“I think this is a really cool way to explore what this very Louisiana iconic material could look like for a modern Louisiana bride,” Rigney said. “When I think of traditional Southern bridal wear, I think of lace and this magnolia flower.”
The flower acts as a representation of Louisiana history as well as a method to minimize waste.
“These are made from the legs of the alligator hide,” Rigney said of the flower petals. “They are already shaped in this very three-dimensional kind of contorted way, so this is a way to use more of the hide and waste less of it as well.”
The ITAA Blanche Payne award in Apparel or Fashion Design recognizes outstanding research and scholarship done by undergraduate students in the apparel and textile discipline. Five recipients are chosen per year, and they will attend and present at a conference in St. Louis, Missouri, later this month. Rigney’s professor, Casey Stannard, spoke of this honor.
“It is hard to get students accepted into the design showcase. The acceptance rate for undergrads is at 35%,” Stannard said. “This is the major conference for our field, so this is really where all the hot design is going. It’s one thing to do exciting design research when you’re a professional. It’s another to have your students doing some cutting-edge research.”
The leathers were sourced from American Tanning and Leather, AMTAN, based in Georgia. AMTAN has supplied alligator leather for numerous projects to the LSU Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising program. Stannard describes what qualifies as a low-grade leather.
“They have imperfections and typically they’re going to have scars and maybe small holes,” Stannard said. “They’re also larger in scale. Typically, low-grade skins come from wild alligators as opposed to farm raised alligators. In Louisiana, we raise alligators on farms and then have to release a percentage back into the wild to sustain the population. However, we can’t have too many wild alligators, so hunting is used to keep those numbers in check. So, as a design researcher I’ve been working on, well what can we do to make designers want to use wild alligator more?”
Challenges arise working with unique fabrics. The leather was rigid and tough to form, so Rigney and Stannard decided to supplement the fabrics for the dress with digital textile prints of alligator to maintain the look of alligator against the real leather.
“She took a picture of a hide, digitized it into the computer, made a repeating print,” Stannard said of the work Rigney did on the gown. “Then we actually sublimated it in-house on our own digital textile printer, so that she could create this design that has a drapable chiffon alligator print.”
Rigney says that the structure of the leather actually gave support to the dress in a natural way.
“I definitely had to workshop which parts of the dress would be best to use the hide on,” Rigney said. “So, I kind of settled on the breasts and bodice plate part of it. It kind of gives it that extra structure you would need on the corset part of a dress anyway. So, kind of just trying to lean into the natural strength of the material.”
The digital textile prints of the alligator pattern are light blue, an intentional decision by Rigney to tie in the pearlescent magnolia detail and the iridescent organza used on the garment. Several samples were printed to figure out which color would best complement the overall design.
Another innovative garment designed by Rigney, “Bioengineered Body,” features 3-D printed sequins and butterfly-inspired printed couture embellishments. The project began with an assignment in Stannard’s class to create a corset and coordinating bottoms to go with it.
“I was kind of thinking about what would the future of couture look like,” Rigney said. “And one of my favorite designers is Iris van Herpen. If you go look at her shows, it’s all larger than life, avant-garde, very inspired by nature. So that’s kind of where the foundation of this design came from … to kind of look like an extension of the body.”
Postgraduation, Rigney hopes to work in the fashion industry, and after gaining industry experience, she could see herself owning her own slow fashion, custom couture business. Rigney will present both designs at the ITAA conference, which will take place Nov. 18-22 in St. Louis.
“When many people think of research, they don’t think that you could research in fashion,” Rigney said. “But you could research in design, you could research in fashion history. There’s so much to it. So, I hope other students can get inspired.”
Martha Rigney, an LSU senior, majoring in textiles, apparel and merchandising, shows off the magnolia flower made out of alligator leather on her “Bayou Bride” garment. The garment earned Rigney the International Textile and Apparel Association Blanche Payne award. Photo by Tobie Blanchard/LSU AgCenter
Martha Rigney with her “Bioengineered Body” garment that was designed with 3-D printed elements. Photo by Tobie Blanchard/LSU AgCenter
