Arts of Fashion 2008

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About two weeks ago, the 2008 Arts of Fashion International Design Symposium and Competition took place in San Francisco.  Beginning on October 28, the week included masterclasses and a massive competition.  Up for grabs in the competition were scholarships and internships with notable fashion labels such as Nice Collective and Veronique Branquinho.

ARTS OF FASHION 2008 – SF UNDER CREATIVE FASHION’S INFLUENCE
The International Fashion Student Competition takes over the SFMOMA

The 2008 Arts of Fashion International Design Symposium and Competition took over the SFMOMA infusing San Francisco style with stylish European influence. Opening with five Masterclasses, 2008 promised to be the biggest, most exciting Arts of Fashion event ever. Students participated in this five-day intensive workshop to create stunningly creative pieces to be presented on stage at the show on Wednesday, October 29.

Classes are taught by renowned European designing heads including Sandra Backlund, who taught students her unique knitting style; Aurore de La Morinerie and Fabienne Jouvin, who helped students construct silk print dresses with artistic and illustration designs; Lionel Vandenbemden and Natalia Brilli, who runs a label with her own name, instructed students to create innovative leather bag pieces inspired by geometric shapes of jewelries; Tony Delcampe and Laurent Edmond, first creative assistant to Martin Margiela, whose students are inspired to create bright and bold rainbow-colored capes matched with leather shorts, and last but not least, the duo designers Thierry Rondenet and Herve Yvrenogeau of the label OWN, directed the class in which students are to construct a creative kimono piece with ribbon vest and short pants. Students have done excellent work and finished their masterpieces by the time of the fashion show and presented fantastic pieces of work to the audience.

The Fashion.Edu new Series, which took place on Monday and Tuesday afternoons, featured faculties from design schools including Parsons School of Design-Steven Faerm and Shelley Fox, The Art Center College of Los Angeles-Nancy Riegelman, and Duperre Applied School of the Arts in Paris-David Meyer, each of whom lectured about how they envisioned bringing creativity into the curriculums in the fashion departments of the institutions.

On the night of Tuesday, October 28, the Opening Reception took place where the greetings of welcome are said. Following the reception, the Arts of Fashion Foundation showed the documentary “WuYong”, at the Sundance Kabuki Theater in Japan Town. This highly anticipated documentary, “WuYong/Useless”, directed by the famous Chinese director Jia ZhangKe, follows the challenge of the fashion industry in China and the difficulties for young designers to pursuit fashion designing in such a market as China where creativity tends to be stifled.

Keeping on the forefront of major industry issues, on the morning of Wednesday, October 29, the Tandem Series took place, joined by many fashion students, designers, faculties, and professionals. The series of interactive discussions tackled three topics – First was Copyright in Fashion in Europe with Dr. Jeanne Belhumeur, where audience are educated on the topic of fashion copyright laws in Europe. Secondly, audience enjoyed Fashion Media, the conversation between Susie Bubble, a famous London based fashion blogger, and Amy Prince, editor of Surface Magazine, in discussing how fashion is covered in two very different media, magazine and online blogs. The third topic was Business of Fashion, where the iconic Chinese fashion designer Ma-Ke, as her first ever appearance in a public conference, presented to the audience her works and discussed her experiences on building her own fashion concept label in China. Audience actively participated in asking questions and helped in completing meaningful conversations between the presenters and the audience.

On Wednesday night, the SFMOMA hosted the International Design Competition and Fashion Shows. The show opened with the Debut – Series: the collections of three young rising designers from New York – Natallia Pilipenka, Stephanie Otto and Akarasun Seanglai, followed by the Carte Blanche Series featuring the collections of 3 design talents from Europe— Sandrina Fasoli, Isabelle Steger and Cathy Pill. Then the creative pieces completed by students in the Masterclass-series were presented to a delighted audience.

Next, the works of 61 finalists of The International Design Competition coming from many countries over the world were exhibited. Presenting 2 silhouettes, each candidate showed the jury and attendees their interpretation of the theme ‘Influence’, while competing for one of the nine internships and scholarships offered. The amazing designs received wide audience acclamation.

With Ma-Ke as the President of the Jury, the awards were as follows:

Wendy & Jim Award
Lucian Broscatean – University of Art and Design Cluj-Napoca – ROMANIA
3-month internship at Wendy & Jim – Vienna,  AUSTRIA

The School of the Chambre Syndicale of Parisian Couture Award
Emily Moon – Rhode Island School of Design – USA
1-year Scholarship at  The School of the Chambre Syndicale of Parisian Couture – Paris,  FRANCE

Veronique Branquinho Menswear Award
Francis Forrest – École des Métiers des Faubourgs de Montreal – CANADA
3-month internship at Veronique Branquinho – Antwerp,  BELGIUM

Anne Valerie Hash Award
Susanna Ngao – Parsons The New School of Design – USA
3-month internship at Anne Valerie Hash – Paris,  FRANCE

La Cambre Award
Chi-Lai Cherry Yuen – The School of the Art Institute of Chicago – USA
4-week June summer program with the Arts of Fashion – Brussels, BELGIUM

Duperre Award
Bong Hae-sung – Kookmin University – SOUTH KOREA
4-week July summer program with the Arts of Fashion – Paris, FRANCE

Nice Collective Award
Xiaonan Gao – Fashion Institute of Technology of New York – USA
3-month internship at Nice Collective – San Francisco,  USA

JCDC / Jean-Charles de Castelbajac Award
Andre Filipe Ferreira Amorim – Escola Superior de Artes  Aplicadas de Castelo Branco – PORTUGAL
2-month internship at Jean Charles de Castelbajac – Paris,  FRANCE

Natalia Brilli Award
Ryan Adridge – Louisiana State University – USA
3-month internship at Natalia Brilli – Paris,  FRANCE

In addition to the internship/scholarship prizes, the event sponsors, YKK corp. of America and Target Design Partnership Committee, awarded each of the winners $1000 in order to assist in their internship/scholarship. The Arts of Fashion is back at work planning the 2009 Arts of Fashion Competition with the theme “Illusion”.

The San Francisco Arts of Fashion 2008 is made possible by the support of YKK Corp. of America, Target Design Partnership Committee, + 101% Brussels Fashion, Debut-New York Gallery, Surface Magazine and 7×7 Magazine.

ARTS OF FASHION FOUNDATION
The Arts of Fashion Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization linking both academics and professionals alike and is dedicated in fostering international cultural exchange through the creation of a variety of events meant to facilitate critical thinking among artists, designers, scholars and students.

The primary focus of the foundation is the continuous support of creativity and design in fashion and the arts linked to it. We organize a variety of educational events including our annual International Student Fashion Design and Accessories Competition, our prestigious MasterClass-Series, five days of workshops directed by world-renowned designers and our new intensive summer programs in Brussels – La Cambre Mode[s] and in Paris – Duperre Mode & Textile.

[Arts of Fashion]