Designing Futures
Diane Von Furstenberg has a lesson or two for young designers. The New Yorkbased designer visited Otis College of Art and Design in downtown Los Angeles on March 21 as par t of the school’s designer mentoring program.
Von Furstenberg—who made a name for herself by designing the ultimate shirt dress—met with 12 juniorclass students to whom she assigned the task of designing “the perfect little modern dress.” Von Furstenberg spent a few hours in class giving students critiques and suggestions. She said she was “inspired by the creativity of the young talent.”
Von Furstenberg’s visit marked the completion of a seven-month-long project in which students created sketches, made patter ns, selected fabrics and conducted final fabric fittings. The students communicated with the highly acclaimed designer through every step of the production process by telephone and fax.
Every year, Otis divides its junior and senior classes into groups of eight to 12 students and then assigns an individual mentor to each group. Other mentors working with the students this year include Trina Turk, Bob Mackie, Cynthia Rowley, Rick Owens and Cathy Paik of Billabong. —Dany S. Penn
