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.

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…

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.
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

The School of Fashion would like to thank Somer Flaherty, editor at Marin Magazine, for including a design by Stephanie Tan, BFA Fashion Design, in the magazine’s fall fashion spread.

Here is a behind-the-scenes video of the shoot:

The design by Stephanie Tan used in Marin Magazine

To see the collection from the May Graduation Fashion Show and Awards Ceremony click here.

SF Indie Fashion, a web site and blog devoted to San Francisco’s thriving independent, local fashion community, is looking for a media-savvy fall intern.

Ideal qualifications:
- Previous journalism and writing experience
- Comfortable reporting on events and conducting in-person, phone and email interviews in a professional, timely manner
- Ability to turn around a minimum of two or more assignments per week. Must be able to do this reliably.
- Lives in San Francisco and able to attend multiple local fashion events each week, usually in the evenings (being 21+ is a big help with this)
- Additional media skills, including previous video, photography, graphic design and/or social media and experience
- Experience with or interest in learning wordpress or another blogging content management system
- An interest in the role of small, local businesses and independent designers to the larger San Francisco fashion community

Why you’d want to intern for SF Indie Fashion:

- Hands-on experience reporting, writing and covering fashion events
- The chance to work with a local fashion writer/editor who will help you improve and hone your writing, editing and media skills
- A great deal of freedom to be creative
- Media access to local fashion events, shows, sales, etc.
- The chance to network with key players in the San Francisco fashion industry
- The opportunity to develop a portfolio of clips, media samples you can use in the future
- A chance to immerse yourself in the local fashion scene
- Learn blogging and social media skills

The ideal intern will be able to attend fashion events and conduct interviews on an ongoing basis and turn them into interesting, well-written, insightful features for SF Indie Fashion under the guidance of the site’s founder and editor.

Interns need to be able to attend at least one weekly meeting at SF Indie Fashion headquarters in the Mission to discuss assignments and go over story edits. Other work will be done remotely.

Journalism and writing instruction will be offered to intern during the course of the internship, but basic writing and journalism skills – not to mention decent grammar – are required.

Note: We may also be looking specifically for a photography and/or video intern this fall. If that’s your skill set, please feel free to be in touch.

To apply, please send your resume, a writing sample and an email outlining your interest in the internship to lsanders@sfindiefashion.com.