Thursday, April 20, 2006

Speaker Series: April 20, 2006 Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris

On Thursday, April 20, 2006, The Honorable Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, visited Academy of Art University to tour the School of Fashion where he addressed students and invited them to work on his "sense of style" as well as to his City of Paris. Following the tour, President of Academy of Art University Dr. Elisa Stephens and Executive Director of Fashion Gladys Perint Palmer hosted a luncheon in his honor at The Gallery, 79 New Montgomery Street.
Gladys Perint Palmer introduces the Honorable Bertrand Delanoe Mayor of Paris to our French Exchange Scholarship Program students Dorothee Flores and Maud Rousseau.

BFA Fashion Design student Anna Arguello, who was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris the year before and interned at Risto Bimbloski, shows the Honorable Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris, one of her designs.
BFA Textile Design student Tracy Hiner, who was awarded a scholarship to study in Paris the year before and interned with Dice Kayek, shows the Honorable Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris, the Textile Lab.
One of the Stoll machines in the Knitwear Studio.
One of the Drawing Studios.

Many showed their support by attending including the 41st Mayor of San Francisco Willie Lewis Brown Jr.; celebrated author Danielle Steel; Emily Sano, Director of Asian Art Museum; Glenn McCoy, Director of San Francisco Ballet; French Consul General Frederic Desagneaux; Barnaby Palmer, Artistic Director & Conductor of San Francisco Lyric Opera; Sherry Young, Executive Director of African-American Shakespeare; David Humphrey the General Director of PALM; Craig Newmark of Craigslist.com; and two of our upcoming May 24th School of Fashion Graduation Fashion Show honorees, Robert Mettler, Chairman & CEO of Macy’s West, and Wilkes Bashford.

The Honorable Bertrand Delanoë addressed the attendees and stated that:

Academy of Art University is the most prestigious school and the fashion department is the most famous in the United States.”

Meeting Dr. Elisa Stephens and Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.
The Honorable Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris, and Dr. Elisa Stephens.
With Dorothee Flores and Maud Rousseau.

Academy of Art University currently has the privilege of hosting two students from Paris, Dorothée Flores from Studio Berçot and Maud Rousseau from L’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. “I consider myself very lucky to be at Academy of Art University in San Francisco,” says Dorothée Flores. “It’s an amazing university with advanced technical equipment and facilities and has overall been a great experience as the professors take their time with the students so we can understand everything. They are patient, professional and push the students to progress every time.” President Dr. Elisa Stephens has awarded these two students a Presidential Scholarship to stay on at Academy of Art University for another year.

Since 1998, Academy of Art University has been involved with The Sister City Scholarship Exchange with Studio Berçot and L’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, two of the best fashion schools in Paris. Gladys Perint Palmer began this exchange at the suggestion of then San Francisco Mayor Willie Lewis Brown Jr., and the program has been flourishing ever since with Academy of Art University students going to Paris for one full year and students from both Studio Berçot and L’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne attending Academy of Art University.

This year's Academy of Art University scholarship recipients are Lene Anderson, BFA Fashion & Knitwear Design, who is studying at the Studio Berçot and interning as a knitwear designer for Chloe; and Kristian Arvelin, MFA Fashion Design, who is studying at L’Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne.

Last year’s recipients included Christine Ligan, BFA Fashion & Textile Design, who studied at Studio Berçot and was the grand prize winner in the Concours International de Dessins Dentelles et Broideries; she won the Grand Prix gagner pour Dentelle MODE 2005. The competition was among 26 fashion design schools throughout France and Belgium with hundreds of designs submitted. Christine’s first place award included 2,000 Euros and a weeklong internship with D.M.C. group. She also interned with French designer Delphine Murat.

Past Academy of Art University graduates and recipients of the exchange scholarship include Desanka Fasiska who now has her own line Desanka showing in Los Angeles during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week; Bote Benchekarn, now menswear buyer for Club 21 in Thailand; Nelson Cantada, designer for BCBG; Oh-Young Kwon, designer for Martine Sitbon, and Alisa Schulhoff, designer for Martin Margiela. While in Paris, students have interned with Azzedine Alaïa, Christian Lacroix, Kenzo, Christian Dior, and Givenchy.
Gladys Perint Palmer presents him with one of her illustrations.
Meeting Diane Baker, Director of Motion Picture and Television.Author Danielle Steel and The Honorable Bertrand Delanoe, Mayor of Paris.

The Honorable Bertrand Delanoë, Mayor of Paris, was elected in 2001, becoming the first left wing mayor of the French Capital in more than a century. He is most beloved for his development of high-profile arts and social events, his honesty and devotion to the city as evidenced in his successful drive to stamp out corruption in City Hall, his ongoing reforms of the Parisian transport system, and his raising of the international profile of Paris, including the Olympic bid.

Two of his most famous arts and social events are La Nuit Blanche and Paris Plage bring in millions of visitors each year. He can also be found front row at many fashion shows and is highly respected as the first openly gay official in Paris. Gladys Perint Palmer first met the mayor, and deputy mayor, Christophe Girard, at Jean Paul Gaultier - and they were remarkably good-natured about her large coat that took up more than her share of the chair and smothered them.

On May 24th at the School of Fashion Graduation Fashion Show, Christophe Girard, Deputy Mayor of Paris responsible for culture and Director of Fashion Strategy at the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennesy Fashion Group, will receive an honorary doctorate degree from Dr. Elisa Stephens and visit the School of Fashion. M. Girard was an official at Yves St. Laurent, is a producer of award-winning documentaries, a tireless AIDS activist and Greenpeace member, and lived in our beloved city of San Francisco in 1977.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

Academy Award: 2006 CFDA Scholarship Grand Prize Winner MinSun Lee

On April 6, 2006, the CFDA Scholarship Committee chose ten winners for this year’s Scholarship Program and Academy of Art University Fashion and Knitwear Design student MinSun Lee was one of three grand-prize winners of $10,000.

“This is the most important student competition in the United States and 2006 is our best year ever for this award,” said Simon Ungless, Director of Graduate Fashion. “We always have a winner in this competition but to have three is incredible.”

The CFDA Scholarship Program is an annual initiative that awards ten merit-based scholarships to college juniors for expenses incurred in their senior year. The program is highly competitive, and entrants represent the best and the brightest from the country’s top fashion colleges and universities.

In August, CFDA Board Member Joseph Abboud made a personal commitment to underwrite the CFDA Scholarship Program. Mr. Abboud pledged to donate $250,000 over the next five years, to “give back to the fashion industry – and to support the future of the American design community”. His support has allowed the CFDA to increase their annual grants to three (3) awards of $10,000 and seven (7) awards of $3000 to the Scholarship Program winners.










Fashion School News Academy Award: 2006 CFDA Scholarship Awarded to Neda Odabasi

2006 CFDA Scholarship of $3,000 awarded to Neda Odabasi, BFA Fashion Design. Images from Neda's CFDA project.












Fashion School News Academy Award: 2006 CFDA Scholarship Awarded to Marie Potesta




2006 CFDA Scholarship of $3,000 awarded to Knitwear Designer Marie Potesta.

Fashion School News Academy Award: 2006 Target/CFDA Design Initiative Award Winner






















Olga Mashkova-Henry, School of Fashion BFA Knitwear Design Senior, has won the ‘Target/CFDA Design Initiative’ Award and accepted the position of a one-year paid internship as a designer with Target in Minnesota.

This is a highly competitive, nationwide opportunity and participants hold degrees from the country’s top fashion schools with only three to six students from each of the invited colleges and universities able to apply each year.

“This project is possibly the most difficult for the students to succeed at as they have to show incredible originality with their ideas but must harness their creativity to design for a customer outside of what they know,” says Simon Ungless, Director of Graduate Fashion. “Olga worked very hard to develop the understanding of the core Target customer and produced a great project for them, she deserves this great opportunity. We are very proud of her.”

The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) created its Masters Program in 1998 providing one-year, paid internship opportunities with a designer, design company, or major retail company to graduating seniors. Currently, the Masters Program operates in conjunction with Target Stores as the ‘Target/CFDA Design Initiative’. The very practical, hands-on program is designed to expose the recent graduate to all aspects of the fashion business.

Growing up in Russia with no importing forced Olga and her Mother to sew their own clothing but led Olga to find she enjoyed the process. As fashion is not considered a serious career choice in Russia, she left in 2000 to pursue her dream of becoming a designer in the United States.

She arrived in San Francisco with only $550 in her pocket but immediately set out for work. The process has not been smooth but that “struggle made me push harder,” admits Olga. “When you want something, you just do it!”

In the School of Fashion, Olga has found her passion studying knitwear design. “I find it exciting and challenging to create my own fabrics with different yarns. I love the possibility of bringing my ideas of unique textures and patterns to life”, says Olga. “My designs are styled as casual, comfortable knitwear with unusual and unique little details, something you would wear to work and to a casual event afterwards.”

Being chosen in this national competition is very exciting for Olga and a great reward for all her hard work. “I like that Target is a place where the whole family will find something to buy and being such a large company, Target provides many opportunities for professional growth and will allow me to explore different directions of design work. Also, as an activist,” adds Olga, “I respect Target’s involvement in community giving with a variety of educational and fundraising programs. I was amazed to find out how many different organizations Target supports and how much volunteering occurs within the company. I want to work for a company that actually cares.”