April Howard, M.F.A. Fashion Design
Birthplace: Hartford, Connecticut
Materials: stretch leather, silk twill

Before pursuing her M.F.A. at the Academy, April received a B.A. in Anthropology, A.A.S. in Textile/Surface Design, and worked professionally designing home, tabletop, giftware and linens for Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. For this collection, she was inspired by the work of found objects sculptor Kathy Kelley, the decaying concrete and plastic of an urban wasteland, and Cormac McCarthy’s novel “The Road.” Her organic shapes and construction details are representative of discarded items. Leggings are made to look like molded foam. Slim pants like slashed tires.

For more info about our New York Fashion Week show, click here.

Summer is over. It’s not so bad.

You’ll make new friends (or catch up with old ones)

And learn to cut, sew, sell, drape, draw

Welcome to the Fall Semester at the School of Fashion of the Academy of Art University!

Written by: Gladys Perint Palmer

Click here to read more of “Picture This” by GPP

Remember to keep Friday, September 3rd open! Legendary British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes, CBE will be joining Gladys Perint Palmer for her presentation on the Paris Haute Couture Fall ’10 / Winter ’11 collection starting at 3:30 p.m. at Morgan Auditorium (491 Post Street).

Zandra will share her photos, inspiration, and design process for the costumes she created for the 2010 opening season of the San Francisco Opera’s Aida.

This past Sunday, Gladys went the the technical rehearsal for Aida to visit Zandra and her gorgeous designs — here she is hard at work:

And here is Gladys Perint Palmer and Zandra Rhodes after the rehearsal. As you can see, they are still hanging in there!

Maria Korovilas, M.F.A. Fashion Design
Birthplace: Baltimore, Maryland
Materials: silk chiffon, wool, cotton, lace

After completing classes in Tambour Beading in the School of Fashion, Maria incorporated metal encrusted pieces and details into her collection. The hand beading took over 600 hours to complete. The starting point of her inspiration was the Jenny Lewis song “You Are What You Love” from which she pulled visual and conceptual references for her moody collection of lace, embroidery and layered pieces.

For more info about our New York Fashion Week show, click here.

This week for our Who’s That? contest, I’m going to do something a bit different. I am going to give you three pictures and you have to find the person (in this case, a guy) that links them all together. When you guess, please give us a full explanation of how the pictures are related to the guy. It’s pretty much the exact opposite in what we’ve been doing.

Got it? Good. Here are the three visual clues:

Remember to tell us how the guy in question is related to these pictures — and stay tuned for the answer on Friday!

Jungah Lee, M.F.A. Fashion Design
Birthplace: Seoul, South Korea
Materials: latex, silk

Jungah used the faded colors of antique books as inspiration for the hand dyeing of her fabrics. She mixed water with the dyes and used brushes to obtain a water stained look. She layered, pleated and manipulated the fabric to mimic warped and torn pages of old books. Traditional Korean dresses influenced the soft silhouette and lines of her collection.

For more info about our New York Fashion Week show, click here.

Friday, September 3rd
3:30pm
Morgan Auditorium at 491 Post Street
Gladys Perint Palmer reports on Paris Haute Couture Fall ’10 / Winter ’11 collections – her photos, her observations, her illustrations. Extra transportation will be provided from campus buildings holding fashion classes to Morgan Auditorium for the presentation.

Special Guest: legendary British fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes, CBE is joining Gladys for her presentation. Zandra Rhodes will share her photos, inspiration, and design process for the costumes she created for the 2010 opening season of the San Francisco Opera’s Aida. Open to all.

Monday, September 6th
University offices and buildings are closed in observance of Labor Day.

Windows, Windows, Windows
Tuesday, September 7th
79 New Montgomery will unveil newly decorated ‘back to school’ windows featuring a tie-in with the windows of luxury retailer, Neiman Marcus, and the global retail event, Fashion’s Night Out.

Thursday, September 3rd- Tuesday, September 13th: In honor of Fashion’s Night Out, Neiman Marcus’ Stockton Street windows will exhibit the highly anticipated new issue of the School of Fashion’s180 magazine, as well as select garments from graduates Sabah Mansoor Husain and Marina Solomatnikova that debuted during the Academy Art University Fall / Winter ’10 show at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week.

Friday, September 10th
5:00pm - 8:00pm
Fashion’s Night Out at Neiman Marcus
The School of Fashion joins Neiman Marcus, exclusively, for Fashion’s Night Out. Faculty, students, and graduates will be on each floor throughout Neiman Marcus with exhibits, collections, and demonstrations. Open to the public.

Friday, September 10th 8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST
Academy of Art University’s fashion show at Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week
The show will stream live from the Academy of Art University website www.academyart.edu
Information, images, and video of the show will be posted on our blog. The latest issue of the School of Fashion’s magazine 180 also launches on this date in San Francisco at Fashion’s Night Out and in New York at the Academy of Art University fashion show.

Follow the jump for more events.
Read more…

Denman Island in British Columbia was discovered at the end of the Eighteenth century.

It is the size and shape of Manhattan with about a thousand inhabitants. It is hard to be precise; the most confusing date on the island’s calendar is Father’s Day.

The old timers whose forefathers arrived before the motorcar, look on the invasion of Seventies draft dodgers with amused tolerance.

The dodgers, now ancient anarchists, do not believe in change, and regard newer arrivals, who do believe in indoor plumbing, with deep suspicion.

Then there are some very special folks.

Michael Dennis arrived on Denman from San Francisco in 1980. He was not running away from war but escaping from a brilliant career (Stanford PHd in Neuropsychology, Harvard instructor, University College London Research Fellow, U.C. San Francisco Professor of Psychology).

He and members of his family acquired 160 acres, then for three years Michael Dennis built his own house – which led to sculpture.

Today, his work may be admired by many, and afforded by few, all over the world and most especially at 3760 Lake Road on Denman Island.

Well worth a visit.

In my sculpture over time I have gravitated to less and less detail of feature which allows the viewer greater freedom to read in whatever details they wish for their own interpretations.

I explore that fine line between figuration and abstraction which line probably differs with each viewer.

Follow the jump for more images and quotes from Michael Dennis.
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Here are some photos of our Surface Techniques class. We learned embroidery as well as tie-dye & a method called batik (a method in which you apply wax to the surface of the fabric prior to the dying process and then boil the wax out.)

We just finished this class this past Friday! It’s so exciting to be done with one class — but I am so exhausted. For our final in that class we had to do 4 creative swatches (in about 2 days!) We needed to incorporate at least two techniques we learned throughout the class.

For more pictures, follow the jump.
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The famous New York Dandy Patrick McDonald (who is also a front row staple at our New York Fashion Week Show) was recently featured in a book illustrated by Jim Howard titled “Four Famous Dandies” which puts him next to punch-out versions of the dandies of yore Beau Brummell, Oscar Wilde, and the Duke of Windsor.

This is pretty darn cool! What better way to reincarnate the enjoyment of paper dolls? Who says print is a dying art?

Sources: SFLuxe.com, PaperStudioPress.com