May 24, 2006 Fashion Show Textile Collaboration

BFA Textile Design Graduate Marlene Pixley created her fabrics using Japanese prints as her inspiration. The MFA Fashion Design students who brought her textiles to life include Tilla Abbit, Channing Bui, Kyung Min Kim, Tara Shannahan, Yoshimi Fukazawa, Haa Cheng Thai, Soo Jung Sung, Andrea Vence, and James Yoest

May 24, 2006 Fashion Show Jewelry Collaboration

MFA Fashion Design and Fine Art Sculpture students work together to create a jewelry collection. MFA Fashion Design students include Tilla Abbit, Channing Bui, Kyung Min Kim, Tara Shannahan, Soo Jung Sung, Andrea Vence and James Donal Yoest.

PATTY CHAN, MFA Fashion Merchandising

CHRYSTAL POWELL, BFA Fine Art Sculpture

MERYL PATAKY, BFA Fine Art Sculpture

GPP Spotlight: Dr. Elisa Stephens led the ‘First Decade’ celebration of Gladys Perint Palmer as Executive Director of the School of Fashion

Christophe Girard, Dr. Elisa Stephens, Gladys Perint Palmer, and Robert L. Mettler

Gladys Perint Palmer and Robert L. Mettler

In addition to our noted ‘Men of Fashion’, Dr. Elisa Stephens also led the ‘First Decade’ celebration of Gladys Perint Palmer as Executive Director of the School of Fashion. "Under Gladys Perint Palmer's direction,” says Dr. Stephens, “the School of Fashion has reached a level of excellence second to none.”

Dr. Stephens read and presented the Proclamation from the Mayor’s Office of San Francisco declaring May 24th, 2006 as Gladys Perint Palmer Day.

Gladys is a highly respected journalist and illustrator who covers the European collections for many publications. In 1998, The Fashion Book (Phaidon Press) named her one of 500 people of influence in fashion since 1860. Fashion People, her book of drawings and irreverent captions, was published by Assouline (2003). She is presently working on her second book. She has worked for The New York Times, Vogue, The New Yorker, Neiman Marcus, Versace, Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Fendi, Dior, Missoni, as well as San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner and The Los Angeles Times.

Wilkes Bashford had his 375 Sutter Street storefront windows displaying her illustrations leading up to the show. “Under the guidance of Gladys Perint Palmer,” noted Wilkes, “the School of Fashion at the Academy of Art University has gained world-wide reputation for excellence.”

Academy Award: May 24, 2006 Nordstrom Internships

Also handing out awards was Nordstrom’s Linda Marie Tiliano who introduced the Nordstrom Product Group Design Internship Program winners. All three are from the Academy of Art University. The competition entailed forecasting future RTW trends by analyzing Haute Couture. The winners are:
o Yoshimi Fukazawa, MFA Fashion Design, who will be designing for Halogen, a Nordstrom private label womenswear brand aimed towards a younger customer.
o Laila Ghorban, BFA Fashion Design, who will be designing for Caslon, a Nordstrom private label womenswear brand.
o Joon Pak, BFA Fashion Design, who will be designing accessories.

GPP Spotlight: Gladys Perint Palmer Illustrations Displayed in Wilkes Bashford Windows

Illustration Notebook: Fashion Life Drawing Exhibition

At the end of each semester, the Fashion Life Drawing classes have an exhibition of student work open to the whole University. Here are some photographs with Fashion Design student Dee Larsen modeling outfits from the May '06 San Francisco Fashion Show collections.

Internship Spotlight: Viktor & Rolf Intern Backstage

2005 BFA Fashion Design Graduate Rhice Ayn Mannelli Brewer backstage at Viktor & Rolf (to the left of the model with her arms folded). Rhice has also interned at Anna Sui and Catherine Malandrino and was in the first New York Fashion Week show on September 11th, 2005 in the Bryant Park Tents.

How are things going at Viktor & Rolf Rhice?

3-4 weeks ago I was asked to join the weekly staff meeting, which in of itself was a great feeling, and then Viktor suggested that the meeting should be in English which was mostly on my behalf. So of course this felt great.

That is great! Sounds like you are involved in a lot.

I think I should say that the company is very small and in a way very intimate. The whole company is about as large as I imagined a design team to be. So one of the great things is everyone is very involved with everything. We all eat lunch together everyday, at one table.

What about H&M?

They asked me to be part of that staff meeting because they wanted me to be part of the H&M project. Mostly I did research on everything, from inspiration to window display to garment accessories. I got to work directly with Rolf and Viktor. We would have meetings just the three of us.

What's it like seeing your work come to life?

The first three months I was here I worked almost entirely in the Atelier. I really felt part of it. When I look at the look book I can see my work sprinkled all throughout it. That feels great. It's nice to be able to show people.
If you look at this photo, the bottom half of the dress is almost entirely my work. And it's actually much more complicated then it looks. Because of the silverizing process, the dress was really more of a sculpture than a garment, we weren't able to just sew it together. The weight created a structural problem and getting in and out of the garment was something that took a lot of thought. Originally we thought about using piano hinges at the side seems. You should have seen my hands at the end. The last month my fingers were continuously covered in nursing tape.

So overall?

These 6 months have been such a learning process. Overall it's been great, but not easy.

What else?

In the design room I've been working a lot on the production end of things. Launch sheets, overviews, creating color cards, helping with the fabric selections and talking with fabric mills and manufacturers. I also got the chance to do a bit of designing and I am excited to say I've
designed 2 belts that are in production.

I am often bouncing around from thing to thing and and get exposed to a lot that way!

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.