Erin Fetherston and Alexander Wang weren’t the only designers with strong San Francisco ties to show their fall 2009 collections at New York Fashion Week this year. Making their debut under the tents at Bryant Park last Friday were eight recent graduates of the Academy of Art University, the first and only school to show during the event.

Solo efforts came from So-Cal native Qianya Martin, who found inspiration for her sheer jackets and knit dresses in the rippling tide pools of Bolinas and its Agate Beach, and Scott McFarland, a sculptor whose menswear stands out for its chunky knits constructed using experimental knitting techniques.

Heather Howard and Cat Janky teamed up to produce eco-friendly garments printed with Janky’s figurative imagery based on photographs of life in America during the late 19th century. Soft, loose silhouettes in angora knit contrasted with hand-painted abstract prints in a collaborative collection from I-Shan Liou and Myoung Hee.

A dual effort from Emily Melville and Ivanka Georgieva showcased Melville’s unconventional, yet classically feminine hand-draped silhouettes as the canvas for Georgieva’s landscape imagery created through screen-print, dye and pigment discharge techniques.

Want to see the grads’ collections coming down the runway? Check out the Fall 2009 Graduate Collection video posted online.