By Lauren Michel,
February 26th, 2010 at 5:00 am
(Teaching)
This week, in the fourth week of the term, with two weeks’ notice, I took over teaching the basic clothing construction course at my school. To say that I am excited to have this addition to my schedule would be an understatement. I am beyond thrilled.
A few years ago, earlier in my teaching career, taking on a class partially underway, and teaching that class without much advance preparation, would have had me in a panic. This month, however, it is a project I have excitedly taken on as an addition to my other courses in progress.
When I say “without much advance preparation,” I mean that, before last week, I had not sat down and prepared a detailed lesson plan for this course, having not had the opportunity to teach it up until now (oddly enough, though, the week before I was offered the course, I had begun thinking about how there was no reason not to prepare a syllabus and lesson plans for this most basic of courses, and how I should probably do so in my spare time). Other forms of preparation I have had for teaching this course are the sewing courses I have taken, other courses I have taught, years of apparel construction experience, and past employment experiences, so fear not for my students, they are in capable hands!
Taking over this course presents more than a few challenges, and one of the more significant ones is being the experience of being a replacement instructor. I have been a replacement before, but stepping into the classroom after the class has already started is new for me. With this new class of mine, the students have already had time to get to know the previous instructor, and were working with that instructor’s syllabus and assignments, and course schedule. The good part, however, is that this course only meets once a week, therefore the students have actually only had three class meetings with my predecessor, meaning they have had little time to become settled in to one instructor’s routine before switching to another’s.
This week, I started off by introducing my syllabus with my course policies, classroom expectations, assignments, suggested supplies, and course topic outline. Following that, we did some “getting to know you” exercises, and then came the task of figuring out what everybody’s skill level was. One of the special elements of teaching at community college is the diversity of the students’ educational backgrounds, abilities, and life experiences.
Teaching at universities, I generally had students who were in the late teens and early twenties, with very few exceptions. At my current location, I have all ages in my classes, from 15 on up. What this means in a clothing construction course is that some students arrive with no skills to speak of and others arrive with decades of experience. That might sound like a logistical nightmare, in terms of planning assignments and making them appropriately challenging for each student, however, it is actually quite enjoyable to teach students with a range of abilities, as there will probably be no moment in the rest of the term at which I will have 27 students all doing the exact same assignment.
Giving students of varied skill levels the option to select projects (pending instructor approval) to complete in order to achieve the course’s objectives gives each of them the opportunity to do something they are highly interested in (good for the learning experience), and a variety of projects being created in the sewing lab presents further learning opportunities for the class as a whole, as the students will be able to see what each other’s projects are, and draw inspiration from each other. Additionally, at the completion of their projects, the students will informally present their work to the class and discuss the techniques involved, challenges encountered, and skills learned, furthering the opportunity for them to learn from each other.
My institution, has, fortunately, pre-determined objectives for the course, detailing specific topics for me to cover in class (darts, seams, pockets, et cetera). Here is a question I have for those of you who are not in school, teaching or otherwise. Think back to your first construction courses when you were in school. Which, of the skills that you were taught, have turned out to be indispensible in your career? Leave me a comment and let me know.
3 Comments
By Lauren Michel,
February 12th, 2010 at 5:05 am
(Teaching)
My dear readers, I assume that since you are reading a fashion blog, unless you live under a rock, you know by now that yesterday the fashion world lost Alexander McQueen to suicide at the age of 40. I wonder if this event will be like others in recent history, in that years from now, fashionistas everywhere will each have their own story about where they were the moment they found out that Alexander McQueen had died. I, for one, hope I will not forget the moment I had yesterday (if I do, you have my permission to call me senile). If I ever write a memoir about my career as a teacher, and I would not be the first in my family to do so, my story of that moment would surely be included.
At my institution, we have just wrapped up our second week of the Spring term. My course policies and classroom code of conduct should be fresh in everyone’s mind (as fresh as they can be, considering the recent download of other information from various classes). Cell phone use, including text messaging, email, and use of the internet, is strictly verboten in my classroom. For safety, I do allow them to keep their phones turned on, in case of an emergency in the classroom or on the campus. Outside of that, my course policies spell out that students will be asked to leave, and then marked absent, if they use their phones during class (in reality, I usually ask to them to stop once, and they are asked to leave after the second infraction).
Yesterday, as I was in my Textiles course, lecturing on flax, and its vulnerability to mildew and silverfish (please don’t click away, I promise this post gets better), a student seated right by my podium held up her phone with a photo of a silverfish from a Wikipedia page. Useful, yes. I made a mental note to put a photo of a silverfish in my presentation for next time. Apparently, not everyone knows what a silverfish looks like, and I should keep in mind that some students may really want to know this. If you did not know, now you do (see below).
A little while later, while I was lecturing on the use of hemp as a textile fiber, the differences between marijuana and industrial hemp (always amusing in a college classroom), and the uses of hemp seed and hemp seed oil, a different student announced they had just received a text message with the news of McQueen’s suicide. I was stricken speechless…for about two seconds.
What do you do in a situation like that? First, I told the students who did not know who McQueen was just who he was. Before you get on my case for having students who do not know who Alexander McQueen was, I have to tell you that my Textiles course is required for Interior Design students, and that is all the explanation I have on that point. Second, I went to Google News and, sure enough, there were the headlines confirming the text message’s news.
It is a sad, sad loss for the fashion industry, and for my students, too, who I know draw a lot of inspiration from McQueen’s work. I took a brief break from lecturing on plant fibers while the students comforted each other. Later on, while lecturing on wool, and therefore, herringbone, Harris tweed, and houndstooth, I had the perfect opportunity to show some of McQueen’s designs and discuss the current revival of classic British fabrics.
Twice that day, I had students go against my classroom policy. Am I displeased? Not at all. Both were instances where the information they received or retrieved with their cell phones was timely and relevant to either the subject of my lecture, or the fashion industry as a whole. What is an instructor to do? Bend the rules, I suppose. Was McQueen a rule-bender? More accurately, a rule-breaker, n’est-ce pas? I try to stay one step ahead of my students, and make rules that are fair and fairly applied, but it does not always work out that way. Flexibility is the key, for me, and for them.
Next week, my fashion students and I will be hosting a celebration of the life and work of Alexander McQueen. I have invited students to share pictures and runway footage that have inspired them in their own work. I am hoping the event will help comfort those who are genuinely feeling this loss quite personally, and, for those who are less familiar with McQueen, the event will be an excellent opportunity to educate them, so they will know exactly who he was and what he created. I am there to educate, after all.
Dear readers, are you attending any McQueen memorial events? Formal or informal?
My fellow teachers, how are you addressing the death of Alexander McQueen in your fashion classrooms? Leave me some comments, and let me know.
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By Lauren Michel,
February 8th, 2010 at 5:00 am
(Conferences and Calls for Papers, Museum Life, Teaching)
1960s Aloha Shirt from the University of Hawai'i Museum
Here is a funding opportunity for my fellow academics in the US, the Costume Society of America’s College and University Collection Care Grant
Description
The $1500 College and University Collection Care Grant is intended to assist with the care, maintenance, preservation, and instructional missions of a college or university collection that is not eligible for a Small Museum Collection Care Grant.
Purpose
The College and University Collection Care Grant is intended to assist the costume and textiles collection of a college or university that receives little or no financial support from its institution. Funding may be used to support the care, conservation, and/or instructional mission of a collection of historic, period, or otherwise informative costume and textiles that are intended for preservation and are used for study by an institution that has a degree program in apparel, textiles, or theatre.
University of Hawai'i Museum
Eligibility
Institutions applying for a Grant must meet the following requirements:
- be a degree granting institution
- have a degree program in apparel, textiles, or theatre
- The institution must legally own the collection; it cannot be a private collection housed in a college/university.
- provide institutional support for the collection. duties include the care and maintenance of the collection.
- provide institutional endorsement of the collection by some expression of commitment, such as, exhibition space, insurance, storage, or time invested in the care and management of the collection
- to accept the Grant, the chosen institution must become an Institutional Member of CSA
The collection seeking assistance must:
- consist of dress, textiles, and related objects (published materials, textile production tools/equipment, etc.)
- be legally owned by the institution applying for the Grant (not a private collection housed in a college/university)
- be intended for preservation
Selection Criteria
Applications will be judged by:
- high impact of the project on collection’s well-being and mission
- feasibility of the project in terms of budget, time line, and personnel to carry it out
- significance of the collection to the academic unit
Application Deadline
Completed applications must be postmarked by February 28.
Application Procedure
Complete the application, and send five copies, together with any relevant documentation and supporting material, to:
Chair, College and University Collection Care Grant
The Costume Society of America
390 Amwell Road, Suite 403
Hillsborough, NJ, USA 08844
Further details may be found at the Costume Society’s web site.
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By Lauren Michel,
January 1st, 2010 at 5:00 am
(International Fashion, Teaching)
Photo from Monarch Knitting and Quilts, Pacific Grove, CA
An Evening With Kaffe Fassett, in Pacific Grove, California this past Sunday the 27th of December was fabulous, as expected. The event was coordinated by two local shops, Monarch Knitting and Quilts and Back Porch Fabrics (you can also read their write-up of the event). I went to last year’s Evening, and that one was marvelous. This one was very similar, a delight like last year’s with new material added in, plus a display of many of Fassett’s well-known designs.
Fassett started off his talk by saying, “I live in a world of textile and color.” If you know his work, you know his vibrating color combinations. The textile artist in me loves that he named textile before colour. He gave his biographical backgound, telling us of how when he first went to study painting in Boston (you can read his biography on his web site), the lessons included an introduction to color wheels, and how he reacted to them as, in his words, “the work of the devil,” saying that “colour is a very instinctive thing.”
If you look at the span of Fassett’s career, and the development of his work, it is fascinating to see how in his early work as a painter, he was, in his own words, “terrified of color.” For a long period, he painted white-on-white still lifes (not as colorful as the more recent painting pictured above), often assortments of white china, sometimes broken china (interesting, when you see his recent work with broken china mosaics, pictured below).
As the legend goes, Fassett learned to knit after a visit to a Scotland wool mill with designer Bill Gibb. He purchased twenty different colored balls of yarn and some knitting needles, and asked a woman on the train back to London to teach him to knit, which he says took just twenty minutes. He immediately started on a twenty-color sweater, and when it was finished, took it to Vogue Knitting and had his design published. Kaffe Fassett’s very first sweater is pictured below, as seen in the book Glorious Knitting
.
Kaffe Fassett's First Knitting
Today, Fassett is known for his textile designs for quilt fabrics and interior design, needlepoint, mosaics, painting, tapestries, and quilts, and, of course, his ten books. Currently in progress are a book about his lifetime process of becoming a designer and an update of Welcome Home: Kaffe Fassett
. Additionally, a new quilt book, Simple Shapes Spectacular Quilts: 23 Original Quilt Designs,
is due out in March 2010.
Fassett described in his talk how travel has been a continuing source of inspiration for him: first, in his travels to places with “intense love of color, no fear of color,” such as Guatemala and India, and second, as a teacher. He described how in his work teaching workshops around the world, seeing people discover how to work with color was one of the things that keeps him teaching (I know that’s one of the things that keeps me teaching, now to figure out how to get paid to travel the world while doing so).
Fassett’s talk was filled with wit and humor and kept the audience well entertained. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the Evening:
When in doubt, overdo it.
So basically, it’s a TV cozy.
Deep down, I’m shallow.
When he described how he chose to hand off teaching knitting workshops (now done by his partner, Brandon Mably) in favor of teaching quilting workshops, he said it was because the quilters could accomplish an entire quilt in a one-day workshop, he said “much more to my taste, because I’m a speed demon.” Having taught both knitting and quilting myself, I can relate.
The night was rounded out with booksigning and time to view the quilts and garments on display. Pictured below are some of Fassett’s knitted creations from the on display on the stage:
I had brought my first edition copy of Glorious Knitting. with me and had it signed, and then had my picture taken with Fassett. I had my photo taken last year, too. I figure I may as well make it an annual tradition.
Like last year, many in the audience proudly wore their own handknit creations, Kaffe Fassett designs or otherwise. The bag pictured below was particularly eye-catching. Made and designed by Therese Stark Felder, of StarKreation, it is an entrelac knitted and felted bag, with a vintage belt for a closure.
If you would like to learn more about knitting Kaffe-Fassett-style, I recommend you pick up one of his books, and likewise if you are interested in his quilt designs. If you are interested in his appearances and workshops in California, bookmark the site Kaffe in California. His entire international tour and workshop schedule is on the main Kaffe Fassett site, here. Lastly, while Fassett is a self-professed Luddite, his partner Brandon Mably is on facebook, and you can also become a fan of the Kaffe Fassett facebook fan page.
If you are interested in shopping online for Kaffe Fassett fabrics, visit Glorious Color and Westminster Fabrics. If you want to see his needlepoint kits, visit Ehrman Tapestry.
Have any of you knittted up any Kaffe Fassett designs, or used his fabrics, quilt patterns, or needlepoint patterns? If so, let me know and share a photo.
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By Lauren Michel,
December 25th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(History of Dress, Teaching)
As promised, I went to the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Holiday Party last weekend. As promised, I made sure to take lots of photos to share with you. Unfortunately, shortly after I transferred the image files from my camera card to my laptop (and erased them from the camera card), my laptop’s screen stopped working. Fortunately, I have a few highlights which my spouse uploaded to his facebook profile before the computer mishap occurred. In addition to those, there is also that great photographic resource, flickr. A number of Dickens Fair-goers extensively document the event, each of the four weekends over which the event runs, and make their images available to the public, often via flickr, so if you want to see more than what I have below, wander over and do a search for “Dickens Fair 2009.”
The Dickens Fair advertises itself as “a Victorian Christmas card come to life.”
The bustling streets of London, immortalized for all time by the mighty pen of Charles Dickens, form the living backdrop of your excursion into Christmas Past. You are a living part of a Victorian Christmas card come to life!
Come wander the lanes of Victorian London, as the glow of twilight settles upon the city. With the scent of pine boughs & freshly baked scones floating in the air and the sound of carolers & holiday merrymakers accompanying your stroll.
The venue for the event, the Cow Palace (feel free to snicker at the name, though it is an historic California landmark), was transformed in exactly that way. The entire place was theatrically lit to simulate twilight. The lanes were narrow, the place was scented as advertised, the floor was covered with sawdust, and visitors were immersed in an entertaining street theatre environment. The costumes were a visual feast, with the usual blend I have come to expect at a costume event here in California: the perfectly historically accurate (at least appearing so, from a vantage point of 5-10 feet), the halfway accurate, the “this looks ‘Victorian’, right?”, the corsets over streetwear, goth looks, and lastly, fantasy, namely steampunk.
The cast portrayed characters from Dickens (I saw Jacob Marley’s ghost wandering about, dragging real metal chains, the Ghost of Christmas Present escorting Ebenezer Scrooge, and Fagin and Oliver Twist) and people from most walks of life: the chimney sweeps you see above (often with teeth blacked out), flower girls, sailors, harlots, shopkeepers, soldiers, and of course, young Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Charles Dickens and Phileas Fogg were on the official program, and I saw a Queen of Hearts. Rumor had it there was a George Sand about the fair, and locked on my laptop is a photo of what may be her (alas, perhaps next week).
As a comparison, at California’s renaissance faires, the costumed paying customers are usually distinguishable from the cast by either being of the wrong time period, or heavily inspired by fantasy novels and films, and often of lesser quality construction (looking like cheap Halloween costumes, as opposed to well-fitted, well-constructed, and well-researched historical and theatrical reproductions). At the Dickens Fair, however, it appeared that many of the paying customers were dressed as well as, and sometimes better than, the cast. Most of the time, it was hard to tell exactly who was there as a cast member and a part of the atmosphere and who was there on their own time, and their own dollar (and this is not to imply that the cast are monetarily compensated for their time, as some may be, but most probably are not).
Now that I have given you some of the background, here follow some photos that I think are quite representative of the whole Dickens Fair experience, at least from my point of view as someone who teaches introductory fashion courses, including history of dress. Other photos that I am not showing you (because they are on that laptop I mentioned earlier), show some of the better examples of different styles covered in my history of western dress course. I recommend doing this if you teach history (dress or otherwise), as it is important to cover not only history as it was, but also, in a fashion program, the practical reproduction of historic styles for stage and screen, and in this case, street theater. I look forward to being able to share them with students in the future.
Here are the fair’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert (with the blue sashes, as you know).
Above is a marvelous example of exquisite craftsmanship by one of our Worn Through readers. Her gown is black silk taffeta. Perfect for mourning, of course.
The steampunk element was well established, with a special 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea-inspired environment/exhibit.
Popular with photographers were the Dark Garden Corsetry shop windows, because they featured motionless live models.
These ladies were in a clothing shop called Miss Darla’s Dolls Gone Wrong. This was the pose they struck (before moving into it robotically) when I asked if I could photograph them. Perhaps you can see the large gold clockwork keys affixed to their backs.
Have you attended the Dickens Fair or other costumed events? What are (or were) your impressions?
Next week: I will be attending a lecture by Kaffe Fassett and will tell you all about him and his latest creative endeavours. His talk is on Sunday, December 27th (two days from now). If you have any special questions you would like me to be sure to ask him, leave them for me in the comments below.
2 Comments
By Lauren Michel,
December 18th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Exhibitions, Teaching)
Tomorrow marks the start of the winter holiday for the faculty at my institution. After 16 weeks of instruction, I know I am ready for this break. I have about five weeks off before it’s back to school for another 16 weeks.
Personally, I will be using the time to prepare for the coming semester. I will organise my syllabi and lecture notes, and my work wardrobe. If you are in fashion, you know the wardrobe ranks right up there with course content in terms of importance. I have a mending/alterations basket filled to overflowing with a number of items in real need of repairs and updating, just the thing to keep me occupied through the darkest days of the year (here in the northern hemisphere, that is). I know, thrillsville, for all of you readers. I will refrain from posting updates on how my powerpoints and hemming are coming along, I promise.
When not sewing or preparing lectures and classroom activities, I will be doing a little traveling over my holiday, starting this weekend. I will be visiting the Great Dickens Christmas Fair and Victorian Holiday Party in San Francisco, where there will be a multitude of costumed cast and patrons. The fair is a theatrical recreation of 1840s-1860s London and promises to be a visual feast (hopefully, I will not be too overcome by the spectacle, and will remember to take pictures to share with you, dear readers). This weekend is the closing weekend for the year (the end of the annual six-week run), so if you plan to go this year, this weekend is it.
My second excursion over my winter break will be to Paris, to see the Madeleine Vionnet exhibition at Les Arts Décoratifs. I will be sure to tell you all about it after I have seen it.
Also happening in Paris in January are the annual winter sales (les soldes). As you probably know, French retailers are permitted to only have sales in January and July, and the discounts increase week by week. I know I will pick up some treasures while I am there. Again, I will try to remember to take lots of photos to share. Readers are encouraged to hound me to do so. Anything else I should be sure to see or photograph while I am there? The city fashion museum is temporarily closed for security upgrades, so that is out. I get enough loud requests, I may be able to work particular destinations into my schedule and report on them for you. Let me know.
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By Lauren Michel,
December 11th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Teaching)
It’s winter here in the northern hemisphere, meaning that my school is winding down for a five-week winter break. Depending on who you are, or where you are, it is also the Christmas season. “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” as the classic Christmas song goes. Whether it is or is not, from the point of view of a teacher or a student, is debateable. I, for one, have grown accustomed to the end-of-term deluge of papers and exams to grade, and grades to tabulate; the mid-year break that I have coming up a week from now make it all worthwhile, and then some. Don’t get me wrong. I love my work. Love it. Love, love, love it. But seriously, who couldn’t enjoy a five-week break from work? Only Ebenezer Scrooge, that’s who. Not that I won’t be working. I have the upcoming term to prepare for and some traveling on the calendar, but I get to plan my own schedule, more or less, and that is always nice to do from time to time.
One of the things that is not one of my most favorite parts of my work is exams. I like them as a means of assessment: determining what students are taking away from lectures and retaining from their assignments. I like them as pedagogical tool (in theory, exams can be one way to “encourage” students to pay attention in class, do their assignments and read their textbooks and other assigned materials). What I dislike, however, is feeling like time is being wasted, either on the part of my students, or on my part. Grading the exam of a student who clearly did not prepare is a waste of my time; when students fail to read their textbooks steadily throughout the term (one or two chapters per week), and only read them in last-minute preparation for exams, they may be wasting their own time (compromising what they retain in the short term and diminishing what they retain in the long term, if anything).
Here are a few questions I have for you, dear readers:
For my fellow instructors, how do you assess your students? In my practical classes, I usually have my students prepare a portfolio throughout the term, demonstrating their acquisition of the required skills. In my academic classes, I have written assignments, research papers, and short answer and multiple-choice exams.
To those of you working in the fashion industry today, what do you recall learning in college and university fashion and/or business courses that you have used in your career? Of that information, what helped you retain it, and how, if ever, were you assessed on your learning of that information in your classes?
While we are on the subject of testing fashion students, here is a test for all readers: Test Your Fashion I.Q., a quiz from 1956, over at Couture Allure.
And moi, I’m off to put the finishing touches on my final exams for the term. Wish my students luck, everyone!
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By Heather Vaughan,
December 9th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Book Reviews, Teaching, Uncategorized)
And now, my continued look at new fashion books for your Holiday enjoyment:
The Culture of Knitting
(Berg) by Joanne Turney has been a joy to read. Turney, a professor at the Bath School of Art and Design, presents a thoughtful and insightful study on knitting in all its forms and socio-cultural impacts. The study is extremely engaging, though academic, and I easily became engrossed in its pages. The book aims to investigate “the cultural impact and meaning(s) of knitting and its development since 1970.” That’s a pretty large task, and Turney does well by covering the topic from a wide array of perspectives, including: Gender/Feminist, design history, postmodern, historical/nostalgia, political, aesthetics, psychological and social, with a view to uncovering the secret of knitting’s success (that is, the reason for its longevity).
Marianne Jørgensen: 'Pink M.24 Chaffee', 2007
For those academics who are also avid knitters (such as myself), it is something of a treat to think critically about an activity that you enjoy so much. Don’t misunderstand me, it is a deeply academic text, with few illustrations and no patterns. Turney’s intention with this book is to discuss and contemplate something that is so commonplace that it tends to be ignored. She uses case studies, and heavy doses of theory to do this. Moving beyond the ‘old-lady’ aspects of knitting, some of the most interesting parts of this book occur when the author discusses how knitting since the 1970s has become associated with art, politics, as well as with high fashion and design. My only issue with the book is it’s focus on the UK, especially with regards to popular culture. I’m sure I missed a number of very good points because her reference was so UK-specific. That said, it is still an important and valuable contribution to the study of dress, fashion and textile arts.
The Great Fashion Designers
(Berg) by Brenda Poland and Roger Tredre was released yesterday (December 8 ) just in time for the holiday season. Grouped by time period, it provides brief (3-4 page) discussions of each major designer along with a black and white photograph representative of their work. An introduction to each section provides historical context for readers encountering these designers for the first time. The end of each designer bio includes a paragraph with ‘further reading’ resources. Though the photographs are not always the best representative of the designers work, they are images not often seen in publication and the ‘newness’ is appreciated. Overall, it is a great reference for teachers, students, researchers and academics.
Finally, we have Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now (Dress, Body, Culture)
(Berg) by Juanjuan Wu, Assistant Professor in the Department of Design, Housing, & Apparel at the University of Minnesota. Focused on post-Mao Chinese fashion (1978-Present), Wu examines “the ways fashion has both mirrored and shaped social and cultural change in modern China.” She notes that it is the first study to look at the interplay between western and Chinese fashion during this time to be published in English but from a Chinese perspective. It is organized thematically, as a series of essays covering the history from different perspectives. These in-depth essays include discussions of the interplay between the media and fashion in China, the concepts of asexual and unisex clothing; the re-appropriation of ‘traditional’ styles such as the Qipoa and Tang Jacket, the rise of the fashion industry and models in China, and the impact of Western brands. It is a comprehensive study, and includes a good deal of illustrative black and white photographs, advertisements and magazine covers. It should be useful to scholars, professors and students and would be a wonderful addition to university libraries.
Chinese super model Lv Ya during Chinese Fashion Week (2009 Spring/Summer Series) in Beijing on November 9.
As an aside, the Portland Art Museum is currently featuring China Design Now (exported from the V & A Museum) through January 17, 2010. Their blog about the exhibition can be found at www.cdnpdx.org and the conversation about the exhibition can be followed on Twitter by searching for #CDNPDX.
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By Lauren Michel,
December 4th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Exhibitions, Teaching)
This week we had my department’s annual field trip to San Francisco. As my campus is located approximately 120 miles from the city, the excursion has been a tradition of our Fashion and Interior Design programs for decades. Every year, we take busload of students, leaving campus at 7:30 in the morning, and returning at 5:00 in the evening.
The first stop we make depends upon what sorts of fashion and interior-design related events are on the calendar in San Francisco. Last year, we went to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park for the Yves Saint Laurent exhbition (fantastique). While we were there, we were also able to see the Maya Lin (the artist who designed the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC) exhibition (excellent).
This year, our first stop was Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the de Young Museum. The exhibition was nicely assembled, consisting primarily of the standard low-level-lighting-with-spot-lit-vitrines-on-podiums style of display. There were, in total, ten galleries (rooms) to the exhibition, containing artifacts from several individuals, and several rooms devoted to the artifacts found in Tut’s tomb.
If you plan to go, I will let you know now that the golden death mask which traveled in the 1970s exibition has stayed behind in Egypt (there is, however, a gilded coffin belonging to someone else), so if you were counting on seeing the mask, now you know.
As far as content, the exhibition web site (not to mention the $50 exhibit catalog) featured more material for educators to draw from than the actual exhibit itself. I would recommend that you study some New Kingdom and 18th Dynasty Egyptian history, particularly Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV, and father of Tutankhamun), the aten religion, Nefertiti (primary wife of Akhenaten), and Tutankhamun, and learn who Howard Carter was before you attend the exhibition if you really want to learn something from the experience (of course, if you want to simply take in the beauty of the objects, that is alright, as well). Knowing the history will put the artifacts into context for you, in terms of their significance in Egyptian history.
Whether you go purely for entertainment or also for education (also known as edu-tainment), know that the exhibition is part of a fundraising effort for the construction of a new antiquities museum in Egypt. The ticket prices are particularly high ($27.50, general admission on a weekday, and higher on a weekend) because a portion of the proceeds goes to finance the new museum. As I repeatedly emphasized in my classes, if you have a chance to see the King Tut exhibition, do it, otherwise your next opportunity to see those artifacts will be after the construction of the museum in Gizeh, as they will not be traveling the world after this traveling exhibition closes.
The second stop on our field trip was Union Square, the downtown shopping district in San Francisco, home to Neiman Marcus, Macy’s, Barney’s New York, Bloomingdale’s, Wilkes Bashford, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Levi’s flagship store, Tiffany’s, the six-story Westfield Center, Britex Fabrics, and the usual designer boutiques, Prada, Hermes, Chanel, Dior, et cetera. The city is now decorated for the winter holiday shopping season. The Christmas tree is up, in Union Square, along with the annual ice skating rink (yes, in California, you can ice skate in a t-shirt).
At that point in our field trip, we turned the students loose for an afternoon of lunch and shopping on their own, giving them maps of the area and the bus’s scheduled departure time and location. If you are questioning the educational value of this stop on our itinerary, let me tell you that every year I have students for whom this is their first visit to Union Square, and for some, the trip is their first visit to San Francisco. My college campus is only 120 miles from the city. Considering that it is California’s second largest apparel center, San Francisco is a must-see for any fashion student on the west coast of the United States, if not elsewhere.
At the appointed hour, everyone made it back on time and we didn’t leave anyone behind. We returned to campus promptly at 5:00. It was a good trip, all in all. If you are able to coordinate a similar tradition of taking an annual field trip with your students (or employees or co-workers), I highly recommend it.
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By Lauren Michel,
November 27th, 2009 at 5:00 am
(Teaching)
As most of you know, in the United States, today, the day after American Thanksgiving Day, is the traditional kick-off for winter holiday shopping. Black Friday, as it is known, is the day that stores open early and offer big discounts and promotions, called doorbusters. Cyber Monday is the following Monday, the day when online retailers see a huge spike in sales, also related to holiday gift-giving.
For the intrepid bargain shoppers, the doorbusters to be had started early this morning. This week, I informally polled my students on their Black Friday shopping plans and a number of them planned to start before midnight. At least one planned to camp out in front of a big box retailer to be in line for a doorbuster special, and others planned to shop at the closest outlet center (about an hour’s drive from campus), which opened at midnight.
Other students of mine work in retail and have their day devoted to working the sales at their employers. One student, who works at a large value apparel chain store planned to shop at the outlet center at midnight and then go to work at 2:00 a.m. to prepare for her store’s 3:00 a.m. opening. I am looking forward to a full report from each of them next week (especially since we just covered our textbook’s chapter on fashion retail merchandising this week in my Introduction to Fashion course).
For those shoppers who are disinclined to pre-dawn shopping, there is Cyber Monday, when there are discounts and promotions to be found online. If you plan to shop that day, drop by The Budget Fashionista’s page of Cyber Monday Deals to find out what kinds of discounts major online retailers have to offer.
This coming Wednesday, my department and I will be taking students on our annual field trip to San Francisco, where we will attend the King Tutankhamun exhibition at the De Young Museum, and shop at Union Square (the photo at the top of today’s post is of the Neiman Marcus in the former City of Paris department store building, on Union Square). Photography is not allowed in the King Tut exhibit, but I know I will find plenty of other things to show you when I report on our trip in my post next Friday.
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