Coastal Companion

Your ultimate guide to the coast

SCAD Fashion Grad competes in “Project Runway”

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April Johnston
April Johnston, fashion designer

2010 SCAD fashion grad and Savannah resident April Johnston is to be a competitor in upcoming season of “Project Runway”.

At 21 years old, April will be the youngest of the 17 contestants, the largest number of designers in the show’s history. And the Savannah resident is the only contestant from the South.

“Everybody at SCAD is thrilled for April. We’ll all be glued to our sets,” says School of Fashion Dean Michael Fink. “If her provocative and powerful senior collection is any indication, we’re confident she’ll create some exciting and intriguing clothes.”

April’s senior collection was inspired by deconstructed halls, old asylums and abandoned morgues. Her SCAD Style Lab mentor, Zac Posen, guided her through the creation of her collection. The result was a theme of dark beauty—black and grey designs whose beauty was found in the detailed textures.

“Project Runway” premieres on Lifetime Network Thursday, July 29 at 9 p.m. EST.

April Johnston's SCAD Senior Collection
April Johnston's SCAD Senior Collection

SCAD presents annual fashion show with fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg

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The Savannah College of Art and Design will honor venerable fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg at the university’s annual fashion show Saturday, May 15, 8 p.m. at Trustees Theater, 216 E. Broughton St. SCAD President Paula Wallace and Vogue Contributing Editor André Leon Talley will present von Furstenberg with Talley’s namesake Lifetime Achievement Award.

In May 2000, the university honored Talley with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was renamed to include Talley’s name and has been presented successively to fashion legends Oscar de la Renta, Karl Lagerfeld, Miuccia Prada, Tom Ford, Vera Wang, Marc Jacobs, John Galliano, and most recently Isabel and Ruben Toledo. In 2004, Zac Posen was honored with the André Leon Talley New Look Award. Talley is a member of the SCAD Board of Trustees.

Hailing from Brussels, Belgium, von Furstenberg first arrived in the fashion world in 1972 with her iconic wrap dress, the seed of what is today a full fashion house. By 1976, von Furstenberg had sold millions of her dresses, coming to symbolize female power and freedom to an entire generation. In 1997, after a hiatus from fashion, she reemerged on the New York fashion scene with the re-launch of the dress that started it all and began transforming her company into the global luxury lifestyle brand it is today. The impact of this garment to women and the fashion industry is so profound that it is now part of the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian.
In 2004, she was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from SCAD. In 2005, von Furstenberg was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for her impact on fashion, and one year later, was elected president of the CFDA, an office she continues to hold today.

Headquartered in New York City, there are currently 33 freestanding DVF boutiques worldwide and DVF collections are also sold in select retail specialty stores in more than 71 countries. As a longtime resident of New York’s Meatpacking District, von Furstenberg is a vocal member of the local community. She opens up her studio on a regular basis to host cultural events and is actively involved in the campaign to save and redevelop the historical High Line railway. A firm believer in the power of women, she sits on the board of Vital Voices, a women’s leadership organization that empowers emerging women leaders and social entrepreneurs around the world.

110 undergraduate and graduate students are currently vying for one of 30 prestigious slots in the SCAD Fashion Show, which has become one of the top student fashion shows in the country. Selected by a jury process, the students’ work is critiqued every step of the way, from sketches to garments, by some of the top professionals in the fashion industry.

SCAD has the largest and most comprehensive School of Fashion in the world, and offers more degree programs and specializations in fashion and accessory design than any other art and design university. Encompassing fashion design, accessory design, fashion marketing and management, luxury and fashion management, and menswear, the SCAD School of Fashion prepares students for the practical and professional needs required in today’s global fashion industry through innovative design combined with state-of-the art technology, anchored in creative thinking.

Complementing classroom instruction, the SCAD Style Lab mentorship program in the School of Fashion affords students a realistic glimpse of working industry standards, offering direction and inspiration for a select group of students’ senior collections through one-on-one critiques and guidance from concept through production. Mentors have included Brian Wolk and Claude Morais of Ruffian, Yigal Azrouël, Lars Nilsson, Zac Posen, Catherine Malandrino, Bryan Bradley and Angel Sanchez.

Tickets for the 2010 SCAD Fashion Show will be available beginning April 30 for the SCAD community and May 3 for the general public at the SCAD box office, 216 E. Broughton St., online at www.scadboxoffice.com or can charged by phone at 912.525.5050. A matinee at 4 p.m. will precede the 8 p.m. gala featuring von Furstenberg. Matinee tickets are $20 each or $10 with a SCAD ID. Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $50 each or $25 with a SCAD ID. All tickets are limited to two per person for both shows.

SCAD Style 2010, April 26 – May 6 – Fashion in Savannah

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Renowned Style and Design Event to be held in Savannah and Atlanta

The Savannah College of Art and Design will host SCAD Style 2010, the college’s nationally recognized, signature style and design event, April 26 – May 6, at various locations at SCAD-Atlanta and SCAD-Savannah. This series of events features world-renowned artists, designers and industry professionals and highlights several of the college’s programs of study, including fashion, fibers, interior design, industrial design, and architecture. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Throughout SCAD Style, students and the public will have the opportunity to participate in lectures, workshops, exhibitions and book signings from some of the most well-known artists, designers and industry professionals.

Among the eclectic group of style and design experts currently scheduled to participate in SCAD Style 2010 are:

Chris Benz
Chris Benz at SCAD Style 2010

• Chris Benz. fashion designer, noted for spearheading the reemergence of classic sportswear in American design, CFDA Award recipient;
• Venessa Bertozzi, Editor-in-Chief of Etsy, the world’s most vibrant handmade marketplace;
• Derek Blasberg, Senior Fashion News Editor at V, fashion and style journalist, blasblog on Style.com;
• Simone Bodin, known professionally as Bettina, was a French fashion model of the 1950s and an early muse to the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy;
• Hamish Bowles, author, European Editor at Large for Vogue, recognized as one of the most respected authorities on the worlds of fashion and interior design;
• Michael Bruno, founder/president of online antique and vintage design resource 1stdibs.com;

Michael Bruno
Michael Bruno

• Clodagh, renowned architecture and interior designer;

• Thom Filicia founder of Thom Filicia Inc., widely-known for his role on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy;”

• Rita Konig, NYTimes blogger, decorator, author;
• Derek Lam, fashion designer, multi-CFDA Award-winner noted for his luxurious but wearable clothes;
• Fern Mallis, Senior Vice President of IMG Fashion and widely credited as the creator of New York “Fashion Week;”
• Claude Morais and Brian Wolk, fashion designers behind Ruffian, the popular ready-to-wear fashion label;
• Caleb Mulvena, architect, principal of Mapos architectural design firn, collaboated with Peter Marino on Louis Vuitton flagship store in Paris;
• Jonathan Olivares, furniture and industrial designer;
• Nicole Phelps. Executive Editor of Style.com;
• Robert Rufino, editor-at-large for House Beautiful;
• Cameron Silver, premiere authority on vintage fashion;
• Paula Wallace, President of Savannah College of Art and Design, author of “Perfect Porches: Designing Welcoming Spaces for Outdoor Living.”

Bettina
Bettina

For a complete schedule of events at SCAD-Atlanta and SCAD-Savannah, visit www.scadstyle.com.

The Big Trunk Show – Fashion and Design in St Augustine – Florida

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Love fashion? This event is designed to put the spotlight on designers and the art of fashion. Come take a look at the fashion designers in our area at this year’s big trunk show. The event also includes music from live DJs, beer and wine specials, Fashion Films, custom t-shirt printing booth and shopping featuring a range of jewelry, accessories and apparel from North Florida’s hottest designers.
The trunk show is always booked to capacity and the designers are busy readying their lines for the public. There is a wonderful mix of styles and tastes being represented. Some of the favorites from last year are returning; Tara Ferreira, Rosa Loves, Paper Root, and Indi Loves Harlie will be showing new collections as well as hard to find items from their past releases.

The 4th Annual Big Trunk Show is sure to have something for everyone this year. One of the fun addition is a custom t-shirt printing booth. It will be set up for live screen printing. Bring in a t-shirt, choose a custom design and get it printed for only $5. You can also use one of the supplied tees instead and get it printed for $10. The designs are courtesy of a few of the designers participating in this year’s show. This sounds like great fun, and who knows, maybe even a unique Christmas gift.

trunkshow

Savannah College of Art and Design President Paula S. Wallace honored with first annual ELLE DECOR Vision Award

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NEW YORK – Savannah College of Art and Design President Paula S. Wallace was honored with the first ELLE DECOR Vision Award Monday, Nov. 17, at the inaugural Women In Design event, co-sponsored by ELLE DECOR and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Held at the Harold Pratt House in New York City, the event celebrated outstanding female achievement in the fields of architecture, communications, fashion, interior and product design.

“What an honor! This is huge, getting something like this from ELLE DECOR and Cooper-Hewitt, two of the world’s great standard-bearers of design,” said Wallace. “I’m sure they have the wrong person. They say I have vision. I don’t know. If that’s true, I suppose it’s because I’m entirely unable to think about anything but the future for SCAD. It’s my life’s work, my magnum opus—and the best job in the world.”

SCADAn academic visionary, Wallace co-founded the Savannah College of Art and Design in 1978. Thirty years later, SCAD is the nation’s most comprehensive art and design university, offering more degree programs and specializations than any other art and design university in the United States. The university’s more than 9,000 students study at campuses in Savannah and Atlanta, Ga., Lacoste, France, and online via SCAD-eLearning.

Under Wallace’s leadership, SCAD was named the “Hottest for Studying Art” among “America’s 25 Hottest Colleges” by Kaplan/Newsweek, and was recognized as one of “America’s best colleges” and “America’s best graduate schools” by U.S. News and World Report.

Wallace’s mission at SCAD is to provide a bridge from academia to professional life, ensuring that SCAD students are prepared for successful careers in the fields of art and design. In support of this mission, Wallace created shopSCAD and Working Class Studio, two inventive concepts that enable SCAD students to promote their work in the marketplace.

ShopSCAD is a boutique with locations in Savannah and Atlanta where SCAD faculty, students and alumni present and sell their original work, including clothes, books, jewelry, tableware, paintings, prints and stationery.

Working Class Studio, a product development venture, marries function to fine art in product lines sold in retail stores domestically and around the world. Working Class Studio recently has collaborated with Williams Sonoma/west elm, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Henri Bendel and Showtime, among others.

Wallace also created many of the university’s most innovative academic and outreach programs, including SCAD Style, a full month of style and design events including lectures, exhibitions, trunk shows and book signings. SCAD Style begins every year with the Étoile Awards in New York, where the university annually honors important figures in style and design.

Wallace has advanced the SCAD legacy of historic preservation and its commitment to renewing urban landscapes through an impressive series of restoration projects in the medieval village of Lacoste, in Midtown Atlanta and in the historic district of Savannah. Most recently, SCAD restored a 19th-century synagogue, several historic public school buildings, the oldest extant railroad depot in the United States, and a mansion considered to be the oldest, most complete and single most important representation of Atlanta’s storied New South, post-Civil War period—transforming them into thriving homes for SCAD academic programs. This commitment to the building arts has earned awards for SCAD from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Art Deco Societies of America, the American Society of Interior Designers, and the American Institute of Architects.

“For some, design is merely decoration, but for women in design, it is so much more—it is essential,” said Margaret Russell, editor-in-chief of ELLE DECOR. “This award is about recognizing women such as Paula who are making their mark in a field historically dominated by men. Paula isn’t just changing the course of the design world, but is helping to change the world itself. That’s why she is the perfect person to receive our first ELLE DECOR Vision Award.”

Wallace’s vision has been lauded by many other leaders in the art and design world as well. “I am extremely impressed by the fact that one woman had a vision and she made it happen, and is helping so many people,” said Diane von Furstenberg, acclaimed designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Added Tom Ford, president and CEO of Tom Ford International, “The vision of this woman who founded this school is incredible. It is absolutely mind-boggling.”

In addition to the award ceremony, the Women in Design event featured a panel discussion with several leading women in design, including architect Annabelle Selldorf, interior designers Bunny Williams and Celerie Kemble, and fashion designer Cynthia Rowley.

The evening also featured the unveiling of pieces from finalists in the Rado Design Competition, in which talented SCAD female students and alumnae were asked to envision a design specific to their field using Rado’s Ceramica collection of timepieces for inspiration. In addition to a trip to New York City and a watch from the collection, the winner will receive a feature in both ELLE DECOR and the Rado newsletter.

For more information on the first annual Women in Design awards event, visit www.elledecor.com/womenindesign.