I Heard It on the Radio

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to be a guest on LA Talk Radio's weekly college show- College Admission Confidential. Each week hosts Chris Krizak, Elsa Clark and Vince Garcia touch on an aspect of the college process and they asked me to join them to discuss fashion design and its related fields.

Chris and Elsa are long time friends and the conversation was easy and the hour passed quickly. You can hear the entire show here.

Facts About Fashion

Before it even hit the shelves Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guide to Careers in Fashion was getting a lot of buzz and it has been selling at a brisk pace ever since, so it was quite a treat for Otis to have Teen Vogue Editor in Chief Amy Astley on campus this past Monday to talk about the book and some of the realities of the fashion industry.

Seated on stage in the Ahmanson Hall Forum Amy talked with Otis' own Rosemary Brantley about what inspired the book- the tremendous series of questions she has been asked about the industry, how to break in- work hard, offer to intern for free, be ready to fetch a lot of coffee, her own path- Michigan girl takes a chance on New York and succeeds, to name just a few.

Following the talk there was a question and answer session and then a book signing. I was impressed that Amy managed to be both very candid and very encouraging at the same time. Many of those in the audience were current or prospective Otis students and I thought she struck just the right balance of encouragement and fair warning about the world of fashion. You can read one student's take on the whole here.

We video taped the event and plan to have something up on our YouTube channel in the near future!

Times Twofor

Last Sunday's Los Angeles Times contained not one but two full page articles about Otis!

Fashion Forward covered the recent Juried Show and how it impacts our Fashion students' end of year participation in the Fashion Scholarship Benefit Show at the Beverly Hilton- "The competition is intense, and this year's seniors, weeks away from entering the least favorable job market in decades, are keenly aware that a Silver Thimble -- or even a noteworthy garment in the show -- could vastly improve their chances of scoring that all-important first job. In the last three years, John Varvatos, Nike and Monique Lhuillier have all hired top-ranking students to become assistant designers." The print version of the story carried several great pictures but the online version just one, though it is a great portrait of Chair Rosemary Brantley with four of our students.

Laton: The little California town that served as a muse provided a really nice summary of March's Laton Live! Reunion Reunio'n, a culminating event for the Graduate Public Practice program that I blogged about last month. One of my favorite descriptions in the article was- "The normally blank walls of the buildings were alive with video projections of local couples two-stepping in their Wranglers and ropers, and shots of the nearby walnut groves. Video monitors tucked into the few commercial storefronts played interviews with the citizenry. Throughout, a team of artists and MFA students from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles scurried about with walkie-talkies and video cameras, orchestrating and documenting the night’s events under the close watch of veteran artist and educator Suzanne Lacy."

Both are still available at the LA Times website to take a look!

*Images from Fashion Forward and Laton: the little town from Los Angeles Times website

Otis Influences the Obamas Part Two

The other day I wrote about Otis trustee and former student Michael Smith and his appointment to design the interior spaces of the White House residential quarters but that wasn't the only Otis connection to our new President and his family.

On inauguration day the dress that Michelle Obama wore was designed by long time Fashion Mentor Isabel Toledo. The Los Angeles Times ran a complete review of her wardrobe that included comments from Fashion Chair Rosemary Brantley who described Toledo style this way- “She’s about flattering the figure and she’s curvaceous herself. Everything she does is thoughtful."

There was also a short piece about the Toledo dress and the ball gown Mrs. Obama wore that ran on CNN.

Here is a piece from Otis' Inside the Designer's Studio series where Rose interviews Isabel and her husband, noted Fashion Illustrator Ruben Toledo.

Mentors Mentioned

One of the cornerstones of Otis' Fashion program is the work it does with mentors. Each year the juniors and senior students work on projects under the direction of well known designers, giving them a real sense of what it is like "out there" in the working industry.

Yesterday the fashion blog StyleChica posted a nice piece about this year's mentors on its front page. You can read it here. Oh, and the next time you are on campus, stop by the third floor of Ahmanson Hall where there is a new display chronicling all 28 years worth of mentors- its an impressive list.

A Stitch Online

A little more than a year ago Otis launched its own YouTube channel presenting a mix that included presentations by guest artists, helpful tips on how to navigate the educational experience at Otis and a whole "how to" series that features our faculty.

Among the more popular of the how to videos are the ones from the Fashion Design department. Anytime there are over 1000 views, you know someone is watching beyond the Otis community but its not that often that you find out who they are. Thanks to Google alerts however, sometimes you find at least one of them.

Ann's Fashion Studio is a blog by Ann in Brunswick Canada. It appears to have a loyal following and covers a wide range of things related to fashion and garment construction. In her recent post "Great reference for Sewing Techniques" she gave a great plug for several of the Fashion Design videos! So, thanks Ann!

I've embedded the first one she mentioned "Stitching Techniques for a Tailored Jacket." You can find the rest of the Fashion series here.