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Visit: saic.edu/fashion2020
ABOUT THE FASHION DEPARTMENT AT SAIC
In its 85th year, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) Department of Fashion Design has evolved into a unique place to train the next generation of designers, artists, and thinkers. Our mission is to explore the urgent issues of today with our students and develop their voices to participate in global discourse. Our interdisciplinary approach to fashion is grounded in teaching technical, digital, artisanal, and visceral ways of making, pairing artistic exploration with concept development and skill-building.
Curricular Pathways
FACULTY Anke Loh, Sage Foundation Chair
CORE FASHION DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Sandra Adams
Kristin Mariani (BFA 1994)
The undergraduate fashion core curriculum pathway consists of a scaffolded sequence of co-taught design and construction courses at the sophomore, junior, and senior levels, providing a firm foundation in drawing, draping, patternmaking, and garment construction. In courses that combine historical research with contemporary explorations, students transcend the traditional boundaries of fashion to examine clothing as it relates to lifestyle, performance, display, costume, and art.
Kylee Alexander (BFA 2012)
Laura Mae Noble McCarty
Caroline Bellios (BFA 2013)
Steve Miller
Bambi Breakstone Gillion Carrara
Annie Novotny (BFA 2004, MA 2020)
Jack Cave
Rick Paul
Nick Cave
Rey Pador
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Jasper Drummond (BFA 2015)
Eia Radosavljevic (BFA 2017)
BODY-BUILDER
Yoshiko Fredisdorf
The Body-Builder pathway gives students the opportunity to specialize in their self-selected area of interest such as illustration, accessories, knitwear, embellishment, performance-oriented design, or foundation studies as part of the academic spine.
Abigail Glaum-Lathbury
Katrin Schnabl (Sabbatical 2019/20)
Dijana Granov (BFA 2004)
Sharon Shoji
Kate Jacobsen
Liat Smestad (BFA 1975)
Beata Kania (BFA 1993)
James Sommerfeldt
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Michelle Kim (MDes 2016)
Jim TerMeer
FASHION, BODY AND GARMENT
Benjamin Larose (MDes 2016)
Pamela Vanderlinde
The Fashion department offers two options for graduate study: An invigorating, accelerated curriculum, the one-year intensive POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATE IN FASHION , BODY AND GARMENT prepares students for the rigor and challenge of a master’s program or professional work in the fashion industry. SAIC’s groundbreaking MASTER OF DESIGN IN FASHION, BODY AND GARMENT moves beyond the merging of fine
art with fashion design to explore the body in motion, on show, in suspension, in conversation, and immersed in the world.
Aubrie Meyer
Tommy Walton Don Yoshida (BFA 1973)
STAFF
Jimmie Swaggerty Senior Administrative Director Lucky Stiff Administrative Assistant Dolly Robertson (BFA 1983) Instructional Facility Assistant Director, Fashion Design Facilities
Jelisa Brown (BFA 2015) Instructional Facility Supervisor, Fashion Design Facilities Alex Aubry (MA 2013) Director, Fashion Resource Center
ABOUT THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO
For over 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program ranked number two in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through such notable alums and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman. LEARN MORE: SAIC.EDU
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Ashlee Gines, MDES 2020 (James Prinz Photography)
Dear Students, Faculty and Friends of the SAIC Fashion Department, This academic year has been rich in challenges at so many levels, obliging all of us to change our perspectives toward teaching, learning and being creative. What does it mean to be a designer and artist during such challenging times? This issue of Fashion 2020 embraces socially relevant facets of our current social, political and cultural environment, along with rapidly evolving situations at a personal and national level. Students zoom in and out with designs that reflect pivotal moments of their lives and the society around us. Fashion 2020 is a manifesto that stands for transparency and addresses questions surrounding citizenship, responsibility, and accountability. As we face a global health crisis and other major worldwide changes over the past months, the expansive use of virtual teaching and online interactions has emerged as essential to nearly every facet of our lives, including education, social communication and administration. In order to safeguard the health of our community, SAIC has taken a number of measures to ensure our wellbeing on campus and beyond. Campus closure began on March 17, when SAIC decided to close all of its buildings to nonessential operations. SAIC students completed their work through remote learning alongside their families, roommates, or in some cases, in solitude. While SAIC instructors continued to inspire them, much of the personal interaction we had taken for granted was replaced by our internal motivations, experience and initiative. For studio classes and the Fashion Core program, our Post-bacc and master’s degree students have shown extraordinary creativity and perseverance. Since we canceled our annual runway show and senior photo shoot, the seniors documented their final collection at home and/or in nearby surroundings in isolation. Scholarship judging at all levels also happened virtually at the end of this semester. Early during summer break, the killing of George Floyd was followed by tremendous outpouring of expression in the form of protests, marches and demonstrations to highlight social inequality faced by Black people and other people of color in many parts of the US and beyond. The SAIC Fashion Design department stands with Black Lives Matter, and has communicated extensively over the past two weeks with alums and students of color to correct initial missteps and develop a path forward. We will continue to listen and learn from this experience and support inclusion and equality at all levels. We are committed to making the systemic changes essential for all of us to evolve. We sincerely want to do better – we know we have a lot to learn, and a lot of work ahead of us. We look forward to keeping the conversation alive. Effecting meaningful change requires a broad and interdisciplinary vision and a multifaceted approach that enables new collaborations that can link social cause, design, art, science, industry, and the marketplace. My gratitude goes to all who have bravely spoken out against systemic bias, as well as to Fashion Council Chair Heiji Choy Black for her strong leadership, and to our Fashion Council members who have been unwavering in their support for our fashion students with Fashion Council Fellowships for many years to come. Most sincerely, ANKE LOH Sage Foundation Chair, Fashion Design Department
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ophmore
In a curriculum interlaced with conceptual design development projects, students explore the bodice and the skirt as initial garment shells close to the skin through draping, patternmaking, and sewing to construct a variety of shapes in cotton. In their spring semester, S O P H O M O R E students completely reimagine the idea of a skirt and a top to build unique and outstanding garments to express their concepts, as they question preconceived notions about garment categories.
Ellie Tie, Sophomore Core (James Prinz Photography)
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FAC U LT Y
Jasper Drummond Yoshiko Fredisdorf Benjamin Larose Kristin Mariani
Alyssa Cheng, Sophomore Core
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Jrs The J U N I O R class builds the skills and talents required to design and produce innovative fashion. Initially, students learn how to develop a group of garments and then create a collection using a wide range of fabrications. With a focus on the use of color, texture, and patterns, students work on a series of creative draping challenges that embody the fundamental building blocks of proportion, fit, and design refinement, with final projects fitted on models in both muslin and fabric. The spring semester culminates with students designing, executing, and presenting a three-look collection that conveys each student’s personal vision.
FAC U LT Y
Caroline Marie Bellios Aubrie Meyer Annie Marie Novotny Pamela Vanderlinde
Eliana Batsakis, Junior Core (Photo by Ming Tian, Model: Eliza Gallo)
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Bora Kim, Junior Core (Photo by Scott Burgermeister, Model: Helen Gu)
Frida Benitez, Junior Core (Photo by Scott Burgermeister, Model: Faviola Anaya Esquivel)
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FAC U LT Y
Abigail Maria Glaum-Lathbury Rey Pador
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Edna St. Louis Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy
S E N I O R students achieve a high level of professionalism through the design and development of collections that emphasize and reflect their personal identity and fashion direction. Students are encouraged to develop their design concepts through experimentation with material and shape. The spring semester culminates with students designing, executing, and presenting a five-look collection that conveys each student’s personal vision.
My garments wear the people.
Seniors
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I make clothes for bad kids that want to run barefoot through the fields of technicolor garbage.
L OLIVIER HAWLEY My Gummo World Rachel Martini Coming home to the yellow house Dressing up in my mom’s work clothes, trying to capture the identity of what it was like to be her. Questioning why she was gone all day yet still wanting to be just like her when I grew up. Model: Kristine Martini
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Isabella Blewett-Raby The Place the River Built
Electrified by the lives around her, she can be found running around Chicago wearing three different patterns at once.
Model: Jordan Quant
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Together the shapes, materials, and color form garments that exemplify a celebration for the body that carries them. All the elements together make her garments loud, inviting everyone who is around them to join this celebration.
Valeria Watson Baila Conmigo
No matter how hard you cling to memories, they will continue to change and fade. I want to go back. But each time I go, I get stuck in a loop, endlessly.
Alexa Kudrak Dream(t)House 17 16
Dream(t)house explores the malleability of childhood memory through aging. Focusing on the many houses I inhabited growing up and the traumas that occurred within them, the pieces blur the lines between real and imagined space. Model: Caterina Barrera
Alex Avery Lucid Dreams
Approaching fashion from the perspective of a performative second skin. Model: Estella Felauer
Jacqueline DiFilippo Glamorous Alienation My work lives and breathes flamboyance and femininity. Model: Sarah McDonald
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#CarleyBrandau #SAICFashion2020 #SAICFashion #FashionBodyandGarment @James.Prinz
Madeline Felauer With love, always
The difference of the color of my skin exposed from the position of light. 21 20
Myung Hyun Woo One
I work to create a universe and characters that convincingly inhabit that space.
Model: Heainn Ko
Dante Villalobos Reveille
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Sofiia Slynko Frevolnye
My work straddles definitions of garment and functional objects. Within these pieces, there is a dance between curvilinear and rectilinear aspects of shape and fabric.
I am moved by social unrest. My practice involves working with the question of why and how society forms itself and the individual within. A society cannot survive without independent building elements that from time to time eject outrage, unsettlement, and craving for a change. Those events in history that shaped and carved out social orders are the most important to me. I find myself exploring the causes and consequences of sometimes dark moments that create the surroundings, in particular where I grew up and was formed.
Jordan Quant Division
haley goldberg Death do us part Heavy volumes of fabric can hinder or inspire movement, such as weighted sleeves that make arms drag slowly or a loose skirt that moves like a spirit in the way of the wind.
Myra Xu A Trace of Past
Having lived in China throughout my childhood, I am always influenced by the Chinese Taoism idea of mutual coexistence of nature and human, which in short, shows people everything is interrelated.
Model: Sari Goldberg
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Nishka Jiandani Stree In my country, goddesses are celebrated, but women are not. As an Indian woman, I feel strongly about the injustices that the women in the country are accustomed to, such as the treatment they receive by men and the rights they are deprived of just by being born a girl. Photo: The O.X Project / Model: Grace Lul
Myia Esper Intangible Hertiage Diagonal streams of light dance upon the floor and walls, the sound of the grandfather clock ticking in the background. The low murmur of the television and the warmth of the presence of Papa envelop me as I listen to him recount stories of his childhood and life before me. Names and places, vague yet familiar surround me as the murmur of his voice lulls me to sleep. Heritage as an inheritance is more than physical objects but an accumulation of the experiences of family. But as each generation accepts and creates its own heritage, how does one differentiate what is their own or something that belongs to another? That grey area is what we all inherit and eventually pass along.
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Ellis Erisman I liv in a cotig My process is ultimately an act of distortion
Lisa Gaedike (Second) Coming of Age Thinking about the impact my work can have on others, my own importance within the work moved to the back of my mind. The endless walking through alleys and thrift stores, collecting materials to transform and manipulate. The search is part of the never-ending path of transition, a reactive approach to research. Model: Isaac Vazquez
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The Department of Fashion Design offers a rich variety of E L E C T I V E courses taught by faculty engaged in their respective specialization. These fashion electives collectively deal with the body, are negotiated on the body, and inform bodies. Students learn from and work with innovative practitioners to push their conceptual thinking and nurture technical skills. Each course explores unique processes, techniques, forms, and concepts as well as cutting-edge new technologies. Open to all students, the elective courses serve as a melting pot of disciplines and experiences. Students bring in their own expertise and leave with a toolbox of new techniques and modes of thought.
Cat Derousse, Junior Core (James Prinz Photography, Models: Frida Benitez, Grant Karpin)
Body-Builder
FAC U LT Y
Yoshiko Fredisdorf
Laura Mae Noble McCarty
Kylee Alexander Caroline Bellios
Abigail GlaumLathbury
Liat Smestad
Steve Miller
James Sommerfeldt
Bambi Breakstone
Dijana Granov
Annie Novotny
Jim TerMeer
Gillion Carrara
Kate Jacobsen
Rey Pador
Tommy Walton Don Yoshida
Jack Cave
Michelle Kim
Rick Paul
Jasper Drummond
Benjamin Larose
Laura Prieto-Velasco
Kristin Mariani
Eia Radosavljevic
Sharon Shoji
Mariel Martinez, 3D Embellishment (James Prinz Photography)
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Sandra Adams
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Harrison Wyrick, Masks and Mantles (James Prinz Photography)
Lucas Flanders, Masks and Mantles (James Prinz Photography)
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Alisa Maiboroda, Advanced Footwear (James Prinz Photography)
Jennifer Traina-Dorge, Shield of Threads (James Prinz Photography)
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Abigail Hyekyoung Koo, Shape and Theory (James Prinz Photography)
Lists
Frida Benitez, Junior Core (James Prinz Photography)
Eliana Batsakis, Junior Core (James Prinz Photography)
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Kim Kim, MDes 2020, Virtual Flat to Form (James Prinz Photography)
Troy Derks, Masks and Mantles (James Prinz Photography)
Edna St. Louis, Senior Core (James Prinz Photography, Model: George Kharchenko)
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Sayuri Kurotsu, Masks and Mantles (James Prinz Photography)
Harold Taylor, Objects, Artifacts and NoNonsense
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Bo Pang, Post-Bacc 2020 (Photo by Sarah Sugg)
Post-Bac SAIC’s P O S T- B AC C A L AU R E AT E Certificate in Fashion, Body and Garment program provides students who have an undergraduate degree with an opportunity to further develop their technical and conceptual fashion skills in a large, professional fine arts school environment. Some students enter the program as a transitional preparation for graduate school, while others seek its industry-oriented approach as practical groundwork for internships and careers in the fashion industry.
FAC U LT Y Anke Loh Annie Novotny Liat Smestad Pamela Vanderlinde
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MDes
Merlin Qu, MDes 2019 (James Prinz Photography)
M A S T E R O F D E S I G N I N FA S H I O N , B O DY A N D G A R M E N T
This intensive, two-year graduate program provides a place for an expansive investigation of fashion, body, and garment and for deeper individual research leading to a final, distilled collection, or body of work that is exhibited as appropriate to the form. It begins with an investigation of the intimate relationship of garment as second skin and expands to the exploration of fashion within the context of community, sustainability, technology, and the industry.
FAC U LT Y
Jack Cave Nick Cave Abigail Maria Glaum-Lathbury Anke Loh Liat Smestad
Rylie Liu, MDes 2019
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Agnes Hamerlik, MDes 2021 (James Prinz Photography)
Daniela Triana Mayorga, MDes 2020 (James Prinz Photography) 47 46
Kim Kim, MDes 2020 (James Prinz Photography)
Jiajia Bao and Brennan Prentice Brower, MDes 2021 (James Prinz Photography)
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Sean Gu, MDes 2019 (James Prinz Photography)
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Resources & Enrichment All students in the Department of Fashion Design are exposed to an array of opportunities for mentor collaborations with industry partners and faculty-guided travel through classes, study trips, lectures, and workshops by invited guests. In New York, students visit fashion design and art studios, galleries, and exhibits, making important contacts. The Fashion Design department prizes the chance to engage personally with both creative and industry leaders and with working artists and professionals who come to SAIC to work with students.
FA S H I O N C O U N C I L
Nick Cave
MDES
JUNIOR
SOPHMORE
B O DY B U I L D E R
Fashion Council Award Agnes Hamerlik
CFDA Design Scholar Suntchi Image-Maker Award Eliana Batsakis
Fashion Council Awards
Work Right Now
Millinery Awards
Troy Derks
DAKOtravail Worker Award Allison Pasquesi
SENIOR
Fashion Council Awards
Honorable Mention Ben Zumbrun
Fashion Council Awards
Winner Bora Kim
Honorable Mention Hayden Wentworth
Winner Edna St. Louis
Honorable Mention Michelle Suh
Honorable Mention Mette Ulland
Menswear Award L Olivier Hawley
Honorable Mention Sherry Hu
Honorable Mention Julianna Lee
Cornelia Steckl Fashion Fellowship
The Perry Ellis Scholarship
The Marcia/Lester Novy
Lisa Gaedike
Grant Karpin
Alyssa Cheng
ANKE LOH
Robert C. Faust
Sage Foundation Chair, Fashion Design Department
Laura D. Front
The Shirley Schnackenberg Grant
Gloria L. Groom
Valeria Mirna Watson
Ruth Jennings
Luminarts Foundation Undergrad
M AT T H E W M O K M A
Associate Director for Board Relations
Jason R. Kalajainen Dietrich Klevorn
haley goldberg
Margaret B. MacLean Carrie Meghie Melissa A. Moore Sarah Perkins
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS
Maria V. Pinto
Fashion Council members are given exclusive access to distinguished faculty, many of whom are celebrated fashion designers and artists. They attend private events with visiting designers, are granted access to behind-the-scenes enrichment opportunities with emerging student fashion designers, and have a front row seat at the annual runway show.
Carolyn A. Rosenberg
Winner Ellie Tie
The Ungaro Scholarship
The William Mollihan Scholarship
Eliana Batsakis
Chiyuan Sun
General Fashion Scholarship
The Morris & Rose Goldman
Av Grannan
Shelby Hubbard
Gloria Omi Tsien Scholarship
Leora Comer Pogue Scholarship
Frida Benitez
Rose BizubRodriguez
SAIC Merit Award Helen Gu
Body-Builder Awards Winner Edna St. Louis Winner Sarwarish Singh Winner Jain Koo Winner Grant Karpin Honorable Mention Daniela Triana Mayorga Honorable Mention Diego Ruben Lechuga
Raymond Hudd 1st Place Award Troy Derks 1st Place Award Tara Froehlich 2nd Place Award Alexa Eisenberg 3rd Place Award Zoe Vulgamott The Black Pudding Award Matthew Morris
Honorable Mention Ariel Hechter
Rose Bizub-Rodriguez, Sophomore Core (Model: Lucy Griffith)
Ellen Sandor Nora Schneider Stephanie A. Sick Teresa Tkachuk Frances E. Tuite Lisa Warshauer Roopa P. Weber John H. Winzeler
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Sarwarish Singh, Sculptural Headwear
To get involved with the Fashion Council, please contact the SAIC Office of Advancement at 312.499.4190 or givetosaic@saic.edu.
MEMBERS
Amy Bluhm
At the close of the year, undergraduate core students at each level present their work before a select group of industry professionals who deliberate over the awarding of available scholarships. Select awards are also available for millinery and footwear courses. Fashion Council members are welcome to visit during judging.
(James Prinz Photography, Model: Ellis Erisman)
Established in 2007, the Fashion Council is composed of professionals in the fashion industry, artists, philanthropists, civic leaders, and fashion enthusiasts who support SAIC’s award-winning Department of Fashion Design. The Fashion Council’s philanthropy supports three crucial areas of departmental operations: scholarship support for students studying fashion design, recruitment of visiting designers, and the department’s distinguished Fashion Resource Center.
H E I J I C H OY B L AC K
Chair
Awards / Scholarships
Troy Derks, Advanced Footwear Design
S A I C ’ S D E PA R T M E N T O F FA S H I O N D E S I G N I S M O R E T H A N I T S C U R R I C U L U M . M U C H M O R E .
F R C AT A G L A N C E
Over 2,000 designer garments, and accessories Over 3,000 publications including designer biographies, look books, and journals
The Great Tease of Clothes that Whisper SAIC Visiting Artist Sophie Théallet talks to students about her career and harnessing fashion as a vehicle for positive change
26 fashion, lifestyle, and design magazine subscriptions Regularly updated files containing designer biographies, and interviews Over 600 audiovisual materials covering diverse fashion disciplines A comprehensive fabric library Over 1,000 magazines from 1900–present including Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar
FRC
Lectures, film screenings, and tours
T H E FA S H I O N R E S O U R C E C E N T E R
F RC 2019 -20 LECTURE SERIES B I L LY AT W E L L :
Mastery of Craft: Unraveling the Myths of Haute Couture During its 34-year history, the Fashion Resource Center (FRC) has evolved into a hybrid research hub as well as a meeting space for faculty and students within SAIC’s Fashion Department and the school’s larger community. Supporting its growth is a dedicated team of volunteers and donors, who have helped build and maintain the FRC’s unique hands-on collection of late 20th and 21st century designer garments and accessories representing innovations in construction, materials and embellishments. The FRC is also home to an extensive library of rare books, thought-provoking publications, documents, and vintage magazines covering fashion’s complex relationship with the larger world. In challenging times we continue to support our community in their pursuit of knowledge.
FRC DIRECTOR
F R C VO L U N T E E R S
Alex Aubry
Alexandra Katich
Lorraine Williams Bock
Chris Williford
Margarette Alfaro
F R C G R A D UAT E
Cie Bond
Nancy Dedakis
A S S I S TA N T S
Claris Cahan
Nancy Mollers
Bradlee Murch
Cynthia Buciak
Raoul Basa
Martha Wilde
Donna Whitacre
Ruslana Litinskaia
Elizabeth Cohen
Shirl Bennett
Elizabeth Houlihan
Yanet Ramirez de Grech
Jane Ottens
Zent Keymole
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CONNECT TO FRC
Fashion Resource Center School of the Art Institute of Chicago 36 South Wabash Avenue, Chicago, IL 60603
R I K KI BYR D : Thinking Through Luxury Fashion Across the Black Diaspora LEE ANDERSON : Fashion’s Future: From the Mercury Missions to the New Space Age L AU R E N T C O T TA :
Curator at that Palais Galliera Fashion Museum, Paris SOPHIE THÉALLET:
frc@saic.edu
A Conversation with French Fashion Designer and SAIC Visiting Artist
312.629.6730
N ATA L I E W R I G H T,
Web: saic.edu/frc
L I Z J AC K S O N A N D
Facebook: /FRC/SAIC
BESS WILLIAMSON :
Instagram: @ fashionresourcecenter
The Lost History of Disability in American Fashion Design
“There are moments when you have to take risks in life as a creative and stand by what you believe in,” said SAIC Visiting Artist Sophie Théallet, after spending the day conducting studio visits with students in the Fashion department. She is referring to her decision to move to Montreal, Canada in 2018 with her husband and business partner Steve Francoeur. They would make a new home for themselves amongst the city’s community of artists, designers, musicians, and filmmakers. “We hadn’t planned on moving, but we instantly felt a sense of freedom and connection to Montreal, at a time when I needed an alternative to New York and to recharge creatively,” says the French designer, who discovered a network of small ateliers with skilled seamstresses and patternmakers. Relocating to a new city and country is nothing new for Théallet, whose career as a successful designer is not only peppered with interesting encounters and individuals, but also
reflects the changing nature of the fashion industry over the last few decades. At 18, she moved to Paris to attend the prestigious Studio Berçot, the influential school that became a breeding ground for emerging fashion talent thanks to its director Madame Marie Rucki. “She was a big influence on me as a student. She’s an extraordinary woman with a deep knowledge of fashion. But at the same time she challenged and pushed us as students to do our best, knowing full well that the fashion industry is tough,” says Théallet, who graduated early after winning France’s National Young Design Award. “I worked very hard at Studio Berçot and wanted to learn as much as I could. My parents were paying for my tuition and I didn’t want to disappoint them,” says the designer, whose diligence earned her a summer internship with Azzedine Alaïa thanks to Madame Rucki. Considered a master among couturiers, Alaïa’s studio was then
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located in a small apartment on the Rue du Parc Royal, where influential editors and buyers came to see his expertly tailored body-contouring garments. “Azzedine and I clicked immediately and we enjoyed working with each other,” adds Théallet of the designer, who offered her a full-time position at the end of her summer internship. “I declined his offer because I had my heart set on working for Jean Paul Gaultier, whose designs seemed more exciting to me at the time,” she says, noting that upon hearing this Alaïa helped her get a position at Gaultier. Considered one of the most avant-garde designers working in Paris, Gaultier entrusted her with developing knitwear in collaboration with his team, which included the noted Belgian designer Martin Margiela. “Gaultier was my first real job and he taught me how to work with color, build the narrative of a collection, and to be fearless when it came to trusting my instincts,” says the French designer, who remained with Gaultier for three years before Alaïa lured her back to work with him. Initially agreeing to stay for a month, she would become his trusted right hand for over a decade. “Looking back now, I realize I went to Gaultier because I wasn’t mature enough yet to work for Azzedine. It took time for me to get to that point and appreciate what he was doing,” says Théallet, who assisted Alaïa with client fittings, an intimate process that would inform the way she would design clothes for women. “Azzedine’s clients were part of his creative process and he loved tailoring clothes for women with curves. Those client fittings taught me how to adapt a design to suit different body types,” adds Théallet, who has long
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promoted body positivity in the fashion industry by featuring plus-size models on her runway and Ad campaigns. When Théallet launched her label in 2007, it swiftly garnered critical acclaim from noted fashion editors and store buyers for an approach to design that didn’t scream, so much as whisper a quiet understanding and passion for tailoring and couture techniques. “We started out in our living room in Brooklyn Heights with little money, one seamstress and a patternmaker,” says the designer, who went on to win the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Award two years later, dress First Lady Michelle Obama, and create a shoe line with Manolo Blahnik. For her first show during New York Fashion Week, she chose to present her Spring 2009 collection on a cast of all Black models. It was a bold statement, at a time when few designers were using models of color on their catwalks. For Spring 2017, the designer titled her campaign Global Citizen, in response to xenophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric. “We live in an age where identity is fluid, yet people are still being placed in boxes. I wanted to feature women who inspire me, by pushing against conventional notions of beauty, identity and what it means to be a global citizen today,” notes the designer, whose commitment to diversity and inclusion has continued throughout her career. The conversation eventually came back to 2018, when Théallet and her husband made a radical decision. That year, they closed their studio in New York and moved to Montreal, where they set about reimagining a new kind of ethical luxury brand. Its mission is to counter passive consumption through ethically sourced materials, limited production, and selling directly to customers through a dedicated online platform. The result is ROOM 502, named after their first home at the Chelsea Hotel. For its debut
collection, Théallet produced a series of dresses in timeless silhouettes, that are meticulously tailored from the finest ethically sourced cotton. To produce their line, the couple teamed up with the craftsmen of the Kalhath Institute in Lucknow, India. Founded by Maximiliano Modesti, Alaïa’s former studio manager, its mission is to preserve India’s traditional textiles and embroidery crafts, while providing a living wage to its artisans. For Théallet, shifting gears to this way of working was not simply a response to accelerated production schedules and costly fashion shows. “This is my statement of independence. A beautifully executed garment, in design and workmanship, doesn’t need to be bound by trends. I wanted to remove the artifice of fashion, by taking the time to focus on what I learned in Paris,” says the designer, whose approach to ethical consumption has gained her a following among diverse women, from Meghan Markle, the duchess of Sussex, to Rula Jebreal, the journalist and humanitarian. It is a model of working that seems counterintuitive to the current fashion system, yet Théallet is adamant about doing things her way. That point of view comes into sharp relief on her last day at SAIC’s Fashion department. After sharing her journey with students during a talk at the Fashion Resource Center, she takes questions and listens to their concerns about how to navigate an evolving fashion industry without a clear roadmap. “We live in an age where things are going to change in a big way, and I believe it’s the coming generation of young designers who will have the answers. This is why I continue to be a tenacious optimist, because it’s in times of chaos that positive change can happen.”
Students
Thank You
SOPHOMORES
JUNIORS
SENIORS
Juanny Alcaraz Victoria Bi Rose BizubRodriguez Andrew Bohlin Mengqi Chen Bella Chen Alyssa Cheng Ra Dehan Iyomi Ho Ken Ariana Hocking Jiayi Huang Lingjue Huang Shelby Hubbard Eri Iso Haley Janecyk Tae Min Jeong Heewon Kim Casey Knepley Aatika Kothawala Maaria Kothawala Jieun Ku Margaux Laibe Julianna Lee Loken Lee Rever Li Xintan Li Matilda Liang Chia-Yu Lin Jixian Liu Daria Mostek Colette Obermaier Rose Okamura Sino Park Lily Parker Goldie Schmiedeler Chiyuan Sun Katie Svehla Ellie Tie Tong Tong Ru Tsai Mette Ulland Yiwei Wang Hayden Wentworth Emily Workman Haotian Xu Ziyi Yang Xiaofeng Zhou Ben Zumbrun
Sarp Akdag Faviola Anaya Esquivel Eliana Batsakis Frida Benitez Cat Derousse Wonho Do Tara Froehlich Gianna Gaspar Av Grannan Helen Gu Nic Holmberg Sherry Hu Grant Karpin Bora Kim Dawson O'Keefe Adela Ramirez Lorea Román Kendall Schamel Jiawei Shao Michelle Suh Hope Vaughan Yiyan Wang
Alexandra Avery Isabella Blewett-Raby Jacqueline Difilippo Ellis Erisman Myia Esper Madeline Felauer Lisa Gaedike haley goldberg L Olivier Hawley Nishka Jiandani Alexa Kudra Rachel Martini Jordan Quant Sofiia Slynko Edna St. Louis Dante Villalobos Valeria Watson Myung Hyun Woo Myra Xu
G R A D UAT I N G JUNIORS
Heather Morales Holly Richwine Yinyi Liu (Effie)
P O S TB AC C A L AU R E AT E
The Department of Fashion Design gives special thanks to: MP Factor Bridget Halanski Jesse Abudayyeh James Prinz (MFA 1988) Fashion Photography Bob Faust, Publication Design Jeff Nolan, Video Editing Heiji Choy Black CFDA Driehaus Design Initiative Luminarts Cultural Foundation Luminarts Cultural Foundation Graduate Fellowship in Fashion sponsored by Kimberly Palmisano Luminarts Cultural Foundation Undergraduate Fellowship in Fashion sponsored by Cherilyn Murer Uniqlo Kimiyo Naka York Fur Kathy Rezny Fur Information Council of America Nicole Smith and Keith Kaplan
Bo Pang
SAIC Fashion Photography class Adjunct Assistant Professor Don Yoshida and Senior Lecturer Mayumi Lake (BFA 1997, MFA 2000)
MASTER OF DESIGN
SAIC Office of the President
Jiajia Bao Ellington Bramwell Brennan Brower Marina Chen Isaac Couch Agnes Hamerlik Yichen Li Alex Sun Yan Yang Ruijie Gao Ashlee Gines Kim Kim Alisa Maiboroda Yuyun Su Daniela Triana Mayorga María Antonia Villaseñor-Marchal Baoqi Xie Ning Yang
SAIC Office of the Provost SAIC Office of the Dean SAIC Office of Institutional Advancement SAIC Instructional Resources and Facilities Management Katharine Schutta (BFA 1986, MFA 1989), director of Career and Professional Experience Christina Gomez, Professor, SAIC Professor, SAIC Department of Liberal Arts, Director of Academic Affairs for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Bree Witt, Director of Communications Sophie Théallet Staff Credits Jimmie Swaggerty Senior Administrative Director Lucky Stiff Administrative Assistant Dolly Robertson Instructional Facility Assistant Director, Fashion Design Facilities Jelisa Brown Instructional Facility Supervisor, Fashion Design Facilities
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