Jizell Keseian’s black worsted wool trousers with foiled lurex top. Alvert Sanchez
FASHION NEWS
Woodbury to Open Show to the Public
This May, Woodbury University is throwing open the doors to its fashion and costume design program and inviting the public.
The Burbank, Calif.–based university hosts an annual graduation fashion show and scholarship fundraiser—and on April 27, Woodbury will host its gala event for the 49th year. But on May 2, the fashion and costume department will host a second runway event and invite the public to see what Woodbury students have been working on.
Held at Los Angeles Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles, the May 2 event will be open to 1,000 people who RSVP beginning April 1 at Woodbury Fashion’s brand-new website (www.woodburyfashion.com).
In preparation for the event, the school hired fashion and celebrity photographer Albert Sanchez to shoot a lookbook featuring some of the work to be featured in the show.
This is all part of a restructuring of Woodbury’s fashion design program under the direction of the department chair,Kathryn Hagen. Designer Jared Gold, one of several mentors for Hagen’s program, is serving as runway event coordinator for the May event.
Hagen has also recently added a denim track, taught by former Juicy Couture executive Gerard Dislaire, as well as handbag and footwear courses, which will eventually be incorporated into a planned accessories track. Next year, Hagen plans to add styling and wardrobe courses to the costume design program, which “has exploded in the last year,” she said.
At the April 27 scholarship gala, the university will introduce a $40,000 illustration scholarship.
“It’s important to keep the art form going,” Hagen said.
Professional-practices course work begins freshman year for students studying fashion and costume design.
“It’s not about taking the artistry out of it but injecting professional practices,” Gold said.
The university also has an experimental-practices course, taught by Gold and covering experimental draping and design. “We start with Rick Owens and then go to Madame Gres,” Gold said.
The school is also beefing up its equipment, which includes a 3-D printer, a 16-color embroidery machine, a large-format printer, a fur machine from Italy and several antique lingerie machines from the 1920s, which do “the most beautiful stitching,” Gold said. “The tools are there. The kids are dying to use them.”
Hagen’s longer-term plans include launching master’s degree programs in fashion design and costume design.
“I’ve dreamed of doing this for years,” Hagen said.
