On a Wednesday morning, a throng of students milled quietly about in a
classroom in the Catharine Webb Studios on the Stephens College campus.
One of their classmates, Tonya Pesch, was presenting sketches of
cowgirl-inspired ensembles.
“You could do something very high fashion,” a man said as he looked over the
drawings.
Pesch looked pleased with that pronouncement.
Every year, senior fashion design students at Stephens present their
portfolio sketches to critics, fashion industry experts who offer tips on such
matters as construction, cohesion and marketability. This year’s critics were
Neil Gilks, director of educational initiatives at Council of Fashion Designers
of America, or CFDA, and Sara Kozlowski, senior manager of professional
development at CFDA.
Their presence is notable because it could point to a burgeoning relationship
between the Stephens College School of Fashion Design and the CFDA.
The CFDA, a 400-plus-member trade organization, is well-known among casual
observers for its star-studded Fashion Awards ceremony, but it also is a fashion
incubator aimed at cultivating and promoting American talent.
Monica McMurry, dean of the School of Fashion Design, said last year Stephens
College was invited to participate in the CFDA’s four scholarship contests, an
opportunity bestowed upon only 20 fashion programs every year. Stephens’
inclusion provided not only valuable résumé fodder for the students who were
finalists in the competition, but also signaled what could be a CFDA affiliation
for Stephens. McMurry said there’s a two-year probationary period, during which
the CFDA examines how well students from the design program perform in the
scholarship competitions, as well as the school’s curriculum and record in
student internships, job placement and performance.
“They’re really looking at us; we’re really looking to them,” McMurry
said.
And a CFDA affiliation could mean that more are looking at Stephens. Most of
the students now hail from the Midwest, McMurry said. A CFDA partnership might
increase visibility to prospective students from other regions.
What’s more, a CFDA affiliation would provide access to ideas and information
from faculty and students at other member schools.
“There are a lot of great perks,” McMurry said.
In addition to the scholarship contests, students at CFDA-affiliated schools
can upload their portfolios and share them with other CFDA members and attend
workshops.
But networking aside, an affiliation with the CFDA could create a greater
Midwestern presence in the fashion industry as a whole.
“They don’t know about us,” McMurry said of the largely bicoastal industry’s
view of the region. “Anything west of New York City is west.”
Although New York City and Los Angeles often are considered the fashion
capitals of the United States — and with good reason — McMurry points out that
most of the United States does not live in those areas. Although Midwest fashion
might not have the same cachet as New York fashion, it has distinct
qualities.
“When I think of the voice I see here, it has an organic, holistic quality to
it. It tends to be about the whole person, the whole lifestyle of a person. It
is kind of nuanced,” McMurry said.
So there’s a practicality to it, even a softness.
“Sometimes it is difficult to have a harder edge here. We don’t live that
super-compressed, fast lifestyle,” McMurry said.
And aesthetics are only part of the current fashion conversation. McMurry
said designers are starting to look more at the ethics of fashion production and
consumption.
“The Midwest needs a voice in that,” McMurry said. “I know” the CFDA is
“looking for partners that have a balanced approach.”
One of the students presenting her portfolio sketches earlier this week was
Katlyn Lee, a senior hailing from Fulton. Lee’s children’s wear collection,
designed for girls and boys ages 2 to 6, was inspired by the colors and textures
in Dr. Seuss’ “Horton Hears a Who.” Drawing on the beloved book’s imagery, the
collection features textiles that beg to be touched, such as leather and
reversible brocade as well as embellishment rendered from a technique called
nuno felting.
Although it is very much a children’s collection, there are strong elements
from fashion geared toward adults, such as cutouts, scalloped hems and racer
backs. The overall effect is at once playful and sophisticated.
“I wanted it to be innovative and new, like Dolce & Gabbana,” Lee said,
pointing out that the Italian fashion house has a children’s line that takes its
cues not from the playground but from the brand’s adult lines.
During his critique, Gilks noted that the collection would appeal to a
fashion-literate parent with an expendable income. He then offered some
practical considerations, such as washing the fabric for softness before
constructing the garments and the fact that a little boy might not wear a
waistcoat happily.
“This is cool, this is edgy — edgy children’s wear,” he mused.
After the critique, Gilks said he doesn’t consider it his job to tell
students what to do. Rather, he wants them to draw on their experiences and
challenge themselves, whether that means creating a collection that skews more
commercial or conceptual.
“There’s a lot of different voices here. I try to understand where they are
getting direction and then provoke them,” Gilks said.
Lee later said knowing that the critics for the senior portfolio
presentations were from the CFDA did create some additional pressure.
“I wanted to make this look amazing — the high standards they have,” she
said.
But the demeanor of the critics turned out to be reassuring for her.
“My nerves just went away when they came just because they were so relaxed
and casual. They were the first critics that sat and gave us great criticism to
let us know to go big and don’t hold back and give it your all,” Lee said.
But though the portfolio critiques are finished, now is not the time for Lee
and her classmates to rest on their laurels. They’re already taking the critics’
suggestions and applying them to their pattern making and garment construction
as they prepare for the grand finale of their time at Stephens: the student
designer fashion show, which will be held April 25.
For Lee, this will mean revisiting and playing up some of the details of her
designs that most grabbed Gilks’ and Kozlowski’s attention.
“I have thought about it a little bit,” Lee said. “… He pointed out certain
details in my designs, and I’m going to bring more of the cutouts, more felting,
more of the scalloped edges, really mix and matching the prints more and making
it all new and modern, playing with colors for the boys so it can be
interchangeable, unisex.”
Overall, Lee said the critiques bore a refreshingly inspiring message.
“Before today, we always had people coming in and giving us their ideas about
how we should make our collection better, how it would sell in the world. Today,
Neil definitely told us it’s really not about that. It’s about what you can do
and how big you can make it — how loud you can tell your story,” Lee said.
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