The Savannah College of Art & Design has a honeybee as its school mascot. It’s a peculiar fun-fact about the university, one with a warm, even if a little saccharine, backstory. The gist of it is that bees shouldn’t be able to fly given their size and wingspan, yet they do. The parallel here is that an art and design university nestled in a picturesque southern town like Savannah, Georgia, isn’t quite a fail-proof, no-brainer idea. Its competitors—Parsons in New York and Central Saint Martins in London—are based in buzzy world metropolises in proximity to the industries they prepare their students for. But as this weekend’s annual School of Fashion runway show proves, SCAD is defeating all expectations. Even this alumnus’s.

Friday night’s extravaganza took place at SCAD’s campus in Atlanta (it takes turns with the Savannah campus every other year). The proceedings kicked off with a musical performance featuring two alumni; on the piano was Maxwell Park, while Wayne Bucknor Jr. played the cello as he walked down the runway. The runway, by the way, was a colorful walkway by Trish Andersen, another alumna.

If in the past SCAD’s fashion students operated almost independently of the industry at large, with little to no references to trending aesthetics or designers, that’s no longer the case. The distinctive voices remain, but the students appear increasingly aware of the goings-on in fashion. Themes like the much-discussed return of boho (à la Chloé), and the trending Western aesthetic (Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter, anyone?), dominated the runway. Most surprising was the number of collections that either referenced or repurposed military garb. From upcycled army surplus and many, many parachutes, which were cut into utilitarian separates and even draped into eveningwear, war and its byproducts—physical and abstract—were unequivocally top of mind. Gen-Z often gets flack for its apparent aloofness and reliance on the internet and social media, but these collections painted a portrait of a highly sensitive, literate generation.

There was a clear wearability to many of the clothes in this show that’s not always found in student collections. It was the emphasis on craft and the handmade, however, that underscored some of this year’s strongest efforts. Julianna Almandoz painstakingly embellished her collection with what looked like thousands of buttons, and to great effect. It emanated joy and was a wonderful callback to the late Patrick Kelly. Also impressive was meticulous leather, beading, and fabric patchwork and quilting on the runway: See Hollis Maxon’s intricate textile work, the way Kieva Brady needle felted and embellished tweeds with wool and Swarovski crystals, and how Elizabeth Earnhardt repurposed vintage handkerchiefs and draped them into a skirt and made handbags out of ceramics.