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

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.

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.
Read more…

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

Patricia Kelly is a great artist and also provides ESL support for the following classes in the School of Fashion at the Academy of Art University:

FSH 112.01 Fashion Illustration 2 - Tuesdays and Thursdays, noon - 2:30 pm
FSH 320.01 Interpreting and Reporting Fashion - Wednesday noon - 2:50 pm
FSH 600.01 Masters Fashion Design 1 - Friday 8:30 - 11:20
FSH 640.01 Masters Fashion Illustration 1 - Tuesdays and Thursdays 3:30 - 6:20pm

If you are lucky enough to meet her, take a trip to Berkeley (for her exhibition); and ask her how she makes her own paint the old old fashioned way.

On Friday, September 3rd 3:30pm Gladys Perint Palmer will report on the Haute Couture Fall ’10 / Winter ’11 collections in Paris – her photos, her observations, her illustrations at Morgan Auditorium (491 Post Street).

As an added bonus, special guest and legendary British fashion designer, Zandra Rhodes, CBE will be visiting our fashion school and joining Gladys for the presentation. She will share her photos, inspiration, and design process for the costumes she created exclusively for the 2010 opening season of the San Francisco Opera’s Aida.

La Barbe, from the Latin Barba, is a beard in English.

In the 15th Century, King Edward IV of France was also king of England. He tried to impose a tax on beards and nearly lost both crowns.

Later, King Henri III of France (1551-1553) banned beards. His brother Henri IV (1553-1610) permitted them.

Earlier, in the Fourteenth Century a barbe (no, not a Barbie doll) was a linen ‘beard’. Only a queen’s barbe was permitted to cover her chin; a baroness’s barbe had to remain below her chin.

You may have noticed, beards are back, mostly on men.

I must admit, I am a bit bored with beards.

Here are a few suggestions to liven up facial hair:

Another suggestion: a sharp razor.

Written by: Gladys Perint Palmer

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

Have you been waiting for an image of our New York Fashion Week invitation? Well, the wait is over!

As usual, Gladys Perint Palmer has produced a stunning illustration for our New York show next month.

For more info on our show and the designers, click here.