Suzy Chen ’14: Brittany Belo ’14, a co-president of the Da Vinci Club, Honors Art student, and Episcopal’s resident fashion designer, never fails to catch the attention of students and faculty with her bold and unique twists on the school uniform. During her time at Episcopal, Belo has taken advantage of every artistic opportunity possible and has devoted herself to encouraging others to be creative.
Belo’s love of art emerged as a young child when she started sketching in her brother’s design book. When Belo came to Episcopal in sixth grade, her hobby blossomed into a passion. Upon entering Upper School, Belo felt her potential in art and started to take art courses. Belo recalled, “I took Foundation of Art in ninth grade, Theatrical Design in tenth grade and I’m taking Honors 2-D Design now.”
With help from Visual Arts Chair and Upper School art teacher David Sigel, Belo was able to spend extra time in the art classroom last year. Belo explained, “I was frustrated that I could only take one art course, so I went to Mr. Sigel for private lessons.”
According to Belo, Sigel taught her “stencil making,” a process that “converts a poster to stencil form.” Using this technique, Belo created a poster about England with spray paint. Belo said that even though “I [did not learn stencil making through] an official design class, it was one of the most important lessons I learned as a designer.”
Belo’s unique artistic flair is also evident in her daily fashion choices, which she describes as “varying and mature.” Seemingly, Belo never wears the same outfit twice, as she has an uncanny ability to design, create, then mix and match her clothing and accessories to create stunning and distinctive looks on a daily basis both in and outside of school. While most students complain about the restrictions of the school dress code, Belo never feels limited by the uniform.
“It’s a lot freer than people think,” Belo noted, “I can come up with a lot of combinations within the options school offered us.” Although she often gets questioned by teachers due to her bold variations on the uniform, Belo believes that she is always in dress code and that she can “always find a different way to twist the style and make it fit [her] better.” Belo further encouraged people to think outside of the box and create their own styles of dressing. “People need to be more creative!” she exclaimed.
Belo, who plans on pursuing a career in fashion design and merchandising, revealed her plans for next year. “I will take college art courses about basic sewing and printmaking in the spring at Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia. I scheduled a trip to London for a month next summer and I will visit some art colleges there,” she explained.
“I’m thinking about Central Saint Martins under the University of London, Wimbledon College in London, London College of Fashion, and the Royale College of Art,” she continued. Belo is also interested in art colleges in the United States and plans on applying to Savannah College of Art and Design, Parsons School of Design, The School of Art in Chicago, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
Belo said that she owes a great deal of her artistic success to Episcopal’s nurturing environment and is immensely grateful for the opportunities and challenges offered by Episcopal.
“Episcopal encourages me to try new things. I became more ambitious here and always try to be the best I can be,” stated Belo. No matter which artistic path Belo takes in the future, she claims she “will be drawing forever!”