The School of the Art Institute of Chicago will host its annual Fashion Show and Exhibition on May 1st and 2nd in the recently opened Sage Studios for Fashion Design and the School's new exhibition space, both on the 7th floor of the historic Sullivan Center, 33 S. State Street.
Produced independently by its students and faculty, the SAIC Fashion Show continues its seventy-five-year tradition of showcasing innovative undergraduate student fashion collections, ranging from the elegant to the ready-to-wear, and from the conceptual to the socially engaging. SAIC's Fashion Design program is uniquely situated within the diverse structure of an arts school. "Creativity is high at SAIC because our students find inspiration in traditional fashion design, as well as other studio arts-painting, sculpture, architecture, film, ceramics, and video production to name a few," says department chair Nick Cave. "Students freely pursue experimentation for a unique point of view in concept design, cloth manipulation, and hands-on accessory and garment construction."
Renovation of the Fashion studios in the historic Sullivan Center was made possible by a generous gift from Board Member and SAIC parent Melissa Sage Fadim, a supporter of the Fashion Design department for twenty years. The new 25,000 sq. ft. studio space houses dedicated 24-hour secure access to traditional and advanced technology fabrication facilities; the Fashion Resource Center, one of the country's few hands-on collections of late-twentieth and twenty-first century designer garments; and a unique shoe, millinery, and accessories laboratory. "We believe that the special mix of hands-on-making and technology in art and design at SAIC nurtures designers who will change the direction of fashion and style in the 21st century," adds School president Tony Jones.
The success of the School's undergraduate program in Fashion Design and SAIC's cross-disciplinary approach to education is reflected in a list of alumni that includes such notable designers as Halston, Cynthia Rowley, Laurence Steele, J. Morgan Puett, Eunwha Kim, Maria Pinto, Gary Graham, and Matthew Ames. SAIC graduates hold senior design positions in firms as varied as Yeolee, Jones New York, Levis, Nike, Charles Chang Lima, and Tommy Hilfiger, and design for Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, Betsey Johnson, Triple5Soul, and Moschino. Upon graduating many have chosen to intern for international houses such as Victor & Rolf, Alexander McQueen, Wendy & Jim, Castelbajac, Zac Posen, Threeasfour, or William Ivey Long, or to launch their own fashion lines.
To honor the efforts of the School's young designers judges award a number of scholarships and grants to talented students, including the prestigious Sage Foundation Scholarship, a full tuition scholarship of merit awarded annually to a student in their junior year. To build upon this tradition of recognizing the accomplishments of talented fashion students, the School's Fashion Committee is hosting a special preview event for the Fashion Show on May 1 to benefit student scholarships.
