51社区 Highlights host Zoe Meshenberg and Fashion Studies Coordinator Nupur Sharma discuss the glitz and glamour of the 51社区 annual fashion show, if Zoe鈥檚 shirt would be appropriate for a flower girl and the 51社区 takeover of the runway at the bottom of the Spanish Steps in Rome. Check it out!
[00:00:00] Hello. You are listening to the award-winning WHCM 88.3 FM Palatine, Illinois, a broadcast station of 51社区 and its board of trustees. The thoughts and ideas presented on this show are my own and are not necessarily reflective of the opinions of WHCM 51社区 or its board of trustees. As for the show itself, you are listening to 51社区 Highlights, a show where we spotlight the best of 51社区 College and its community through interviews, song requests, and more.
Today for our interview segment, I have the privilege of interviewing Nupur from the Fashion Studies department. Before we get to the official interview questions, would you be so kind as to introduce your official title and [00:01:00] position at 51社区?
Hello. My name is Nupur Sharma. I'm the program coordinator and professor at Fashion Studies program here at 51社区.
Cool. Thank you. Before anything else, I do wanna say thank you for taking the time to meet with me and talk and all that jazz because it's delightful. Getting into the actual questions, I'm curious about you personally, and I wanted to know what has your personal jour-journey with fashion been like.
So I started my fashion journey many, many years ago. I'm not going to give you exact dates and times because that'll tell you how old I am. But I came to this country... I'm from India. I came to this country to pursue my graduate studies in fashion design, and that was in early '90s. Let's just put it this way. And since then I've worked in the industry for a long time, and since last 21 years I have been in academia.
Actually, 23 years. Once I had kids, I realized [00:02:00] that full-time corporate job might not be suited to my lifestyle and it might... I wanted to give more time to the kids, and I just launched myself in the academia, and since then I've loved it. I've also worked with Haggar Clothing Company, Victoria's Secret, Sears. So I've been around, and I've... It's been a very fruitful journey.
That is really impressive. Um, also, like, just name-dropping Victoria's Secret. I didn't recognize the first one, but I think a lot of the audience members, if they don't recognize the first, they will recognize Victoria's Secret. So I'm curious, 23 years in academia, how many of those years have been spent at 51社区?
I've been at 51社区 since last 11 years.
Awesome. And so that leads into my next question. Can you tell me about the Fashion Studies program at 51社区? For instance, what can our students expect to learn?
So we offer two majors, fashion design and fashion merchandising. We also offer a specialization of fashion entrepreneurship under the fashion design major.
And [00:03:00] fashion design is basically focused on the creative side of fashion, while fashion merchandising, it prepares the students for the business side of fashion.
So I'm just curious, and this is an aside question. Is a student, even if they focus on one or the other, it's still possible to take... So let's say they wanna be more creative, but they still wanna take a class in the business side, is that possible?
Absolutely.
Fantastic. Uh, I'm curious for you personally, would you... If you could go through 51社区's program, would you have gone through more of the creative side or the business?
I've always had a softer side for creatives. Okay. So yes, I actually work in the industry on the creative side, so yes.
Yeah. That's cool.
That's where my heart is. But again, regardless of whether you're in design or merchandising, your career paths will always cross each other. You will, one day you'll be in design, the next day you'll be on the business side of fashion. And so it's good to get an idea of both.
Yes. No, that makes sense. Mm-hmm. So I've heard about the annual fashion show you put [00:04:00] on. Can you tell me more about it?
That's the most exciting piece of our department. So it's a annual fashion show that takes place once a year in May. It's a showcase our, of our students' talents. It's a perfect simulation of real industry experience, where fashion design and fashion merchandising students, they join hands to put together this event.
So it's a glamorous event, like I said. It's a fun night. It's a chance to sit back and watch up-and-coming designers, and we get a lot of support from 51社区 and staff here, as well as the community. So fashion design students, they design and produce a garment that participate in the show, and the show is designed and produced by the fashion merchandising students.
That's cool. So it's a bit of like everybody gets involved, and this is gonna tell you my age, but this sounds kind of like Project Runway.
Pretty much.
Yeah. Yes. Where the, it's like you... Do you get students to model it or?
We do hire professional models. [00:05:00]
Oh, wow, hire professional models. So it's not just like, "Hey, Susie from chem class, come-" It's quite a big deal.
Yeah. And the theme for fashion show this year is going to be Reimagined Hollywood's Yesteryears. Oh, so like the golden glamourous- Yes. It's going to be a lot of glamour and glitz, and we would want our guests to be dressed for it. So there, it's a red carpet event.
I am, I'm there. I will get dressed for this. Is it, what time of the year? Is it a spring? Is it a fall?
It's in May. Okay. It's the Thursday before graduation.
All right. And is it usually, like every year it's usually the Thursday before graduation, or just is it usually sometime in May?
It's always the Thursday before graduation because we want to make it complicated.
Hey, I get that though, because I'm a music student audio engineering technically, but I've been in performance and in performances- And usually, it's almost always your big [00:06:00] performance, your big recitals, all the important events you've been working towards. Oh yeah, by the way, it's two days before your finals. By the way, you have a few essays due. Can you submit this 20-page paper the same night that you'll be performing? Yeah? Great, do it. So now that makes sense. Oh, that's so funny. But so speaking of graduation, I know that 51社区 prides itself on producing career-ready graduates. What does that look like for fashion studies students?
So one of our biggest trends in our department is preparing the students for the industry. All our industrial- all of the equipment that we have in the department is industry compliant. Our labs assimilate the industrial sewing environment. Beside the sewing lab, we also have software that we use for digital pattern making, which is, which is actually called AcuMark Gerber, and we have, we, we use Fashion Snoops, which is a fashion forecasting service. And, um, [00:07:00] all our graduates to be savvy with computers and, uh, all the presentations are done digitally. We also have an active advisory group of industry professionals who review our curriculum on an annual basis and make recommendations about the changing needs of the industry.
Our best part is the jury show, which is pretty much a Shark Tank. This takes place in May as well. It's the first week of May, where students have the opportunity to present their garments at, that they have worked on throughout the year and receive critique of their designs from current industry professionals.
It's pretty much a good simulation of Shark Tank. If you're ever interested in seeing it live, it's open to, to public.
I was gonna ask... First I was gonna ask if it is open to the public, which you just said yes. But this is in topic but off topic. I'm so curious, when you say they get critiques, like, so let's pretend this shirt has been made or something, [00:08:00] and I'm presenting the shirt I'm wearing as part of the project.
I don't know. Is it like the colors are off, or is it like the form is incorrect? Like, what kind of critiques come out of this?
So the industry professionals, it, which is basically a jury, they'll ask the student, "Who have you designed this shirt for? Who's your target customer? What is the season, and what are the trends that you're following? How much are you going to sell it?" And then they're going to evaluate if that garment is worth the money, if the customer is going to pay for it, and if it can be done better.
So I'm currently wearing a long sleeve. I don't know if I'm using the correct terms. There's a geometric pattern. It's like a black and white kind of V-neck thing. I would assume this is for fall or winter more than summer or spring maybe, unless it's like... Like, see? I see you're thinking. No, like, 'cause long sleeves to me says colder, but then the, the actual material is a nice, like, summery kind of fa- Like, so this is the kind of thinking that [00:09:00] goes into it where-
Exactly.
Okay. And then let's pretend, I say, and I'm gonna intentionally give you a bad answer. Let's say I've made this, this lovely shirt that I love wearing all the time for, um, I don't know, flower girls in weddings. Like, I think this is... I'm gonna make this white instead of black, but we're gonna keep this cut and we're gonna, like...I assume you'd politely say, "Okay, that's a great idea, but, but there might be a better audience."
Yeah.
I wish I had a picture or a visual of the shirt because I'm imagining a flower girl and it's, it's just... So okay, that's wonderful.
Looking at the age of the flower girl, she might need more, more, you know, flounces and fun stuff.
Yes. I mean, I sometimes, I get supremely jealous of the little kids' clothes, because they get to have so much fun. And I'm just like, "Why can't we have, like, I don't know, frills and extra things, and why do we have to wear just, like, what we're wearing right now?" It's fine. It's fine. Okay. All [00:10:00] right. Getting back on, uh, getting back on the subject, getting back, focusing, you mentioned about the, um, like, these are people who are in the industry, and so I'm curious about, in general, I assume they know what the kind of new trends are, but what are the new trends in the fashion industry, and how do our students need to adapt to these kinds of trends?
So of course, you know, the right now awareness is the biggest thing. Looking around
you, sustainability is one of the things that the industry wants to follow. Fast fashion
is great, and it's very affordable, but at the same time what it's doing to our planet.
So we are hoping that our student, they learn more about the sustainability that,
that is required in this world to make Earth a better place.
And the other thing that is, uh, really trending right now, which is c- I'm reusing
the word trending, is AI.
Yeah. Oh my goodness. I mean, I know about it in general, like, students doing it or people using it to reorganize their lives, but how does it [00:11:00] impact the fashion industry?
So there are AI platforms which can generate the design. And of course, it's been harvested. It's been from all different websites. So whose... at, at the end, whose design is it anyway? But there are ethical ways of using AI, and we are- Yeah ... we do, we have started incorporating that in our curriculum because, hey, you are going to use AI regardless. You might as well use it ethically just as an inspiration and just as, as a starting point and not the end point.
So when you said sustainability, I thought about the wedding industry. Can you tell
I've gone to two weddings recently? But the wedding industry, and how there are some
particular, like, wedding gown companies or, I don't know, designers who are specifically
like, they are using recycled materials, or they're making it a certain way, and that's
kinda like along the lines maybe of. And then with AI, I'm, I'm, I'm like, I'm thinking
of the music [00:12:00] industry and how there are sites if you wanted to put together
your own podcast and you wanted some music in the background to sort of like set the
tone, there are sites where it's like royalty-free music, and they just ask that you
credit the artist.
Now, what's interesting is that for these sites, a lot of them are real people, but
I think they are required to say, "This was AI generated," if it was an AI generated.
So is that like an equivalent?
Absolutely, yes.
So there are potential fashion designers who, if they decided to use AI, they'd have to just state, "Hey, I did use AI to do this part or to do this thing." Is that the ethical...
That's what ethics require for you to do.
Oh, of course. That's so interesting because I swear, every day there's a new thing that I'm learning about with AI, like there's some sort of new consideration or, "Oh, didn't you realize this industry is also being impacted?" And I would never have assumed fashion, but whatever. The kid in me who, like, saw "Project Run-Runway" all the time is just like, [00:13:00] "Why?" "Why can't they just create their own stuff?" But I'm focusing. I'm focusing. This is a little off-topic. This kinda relates to the industry. I wanted to know, what kind of jobs do fashion studies students get when they graduate?
So we get two kind of students. There's a section of students who want to go and launch themselves into the industry after they graduate. And then we get another set of students who want to transfer to four-year schools after they graduate. So just some success stories. There is a huge demand in Chicago for technical designers, which is pattern makers and CAD designers.
We have students who have been working with Cintas. They are the uniform people. Everybody knows them. We have a student who recently graduated and is working for Wilson Sporting Goods. We also have a close relationship with Elise Paris, who are the biggest producers of prom gowns and wedding- [00:14:00] gowns. They, they hire interns from us, and, uh, they also have recently, uh, hired a graduate from us. That's really cool. Before we continue with the interview, we just have a few more messages.
Hi, I'm Sarah from Triple H, and you are listening to 51社区 Radio.
Do you enjoy craft projects? Are you a fan of DIY? Then head on over to the 51社区 Library and check out the Make Shop. Open from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Thursdays, the Make Shop is a DIY creative studio that welcomes students, faculty, and community members.[00:15:00]
Welcome back to WHCM 88.3 FM Palatine, Illinois, a broadcast station of 51社区
and its board of trustees. Just as a reminder, the thoughts and ideas presented on
this show are my own and are not necessarily reflective of the opinions of WHCM, 51社区
College, or its board of trustees. And as a reminder, what are we specifically listening
to?
We are listening to 51社区 Highlights, a show that, you know, spotlights, highlights,
eh, eh, highlights the various departments and orgs of 51社区 through interviews,
song requests, and more. I have been interviewing Nupur from the Fashion Studies Department.
We've had some really interesting conversations about AI and just fashion in general,
which I've always loved, but I never thought I could get into.
It makes me curious, do you have anything you'd like to share with me specifically?
I know you asked about the, our students who have launched themselves in the jobs. We have a success [00:16:00] story to share with you. Two of our students, they recently got selected to place at a prestigious fashion show in Rome on Spanish Steps. This is a venue where other than these the school that has selected them to present, other than that school, the only other designer who's been able to present a runway at, on the Spanish Steps is Valentino.
Oh my goodness. That, that...I feel like this is kinda like, oh, we have this cool thing. We have that cool thing. Oh, by the way, we have this extremely cool opportunity that, like, not everyone ever gets to do. Like, oh my goodness. I, I mean, that sounds like the equivalent of... Actually, it sounds much cooler than getting to sing at Carnegie Hall, so I'm just saying. That is super impressive.
I wanted to double back with a personal question 'cause you reminded me when you brought up Wilson. I was recently got into fencing, as potential listeners have potentially heard many times now. [00:17:00] But one thing that came up is this concept of, like, fashion for the sport you're involved in. So for instance, with fencing, there's a fencing-specific shoe company that came together because of students in Massachusetts, and they wanted to build a shoe for the fencer. So, is that kind of an opportunity that could happen or-
So once you start designing, and once you are a technical designer, you can launch in anything. But there are some special programs which work with functional design. And these kind of shoes, and especially when we talk about shoes, that's, it's, it gets very technical. It's a completely different ballgame. But once you know pattern making and technical design, it's, 51社区 provides you with enough ammunition for you to go and launch yourself in that industry.
That's amazing. I'm, the kid in me, seriously, I always dressed up as a kid, and, like, my mom would make me Halloween costumes, so I always got to see her make the patterns. Most fourth graders would probably have dressed up as Freddy Krueger or whatever. [00:18:00] I dressed up as Queen Victoria. Like, kid you not, it was 10 out of 10, but I'm, I'm refraining from going too into memory lane because we are here to talk about the fashion studies interviews and all that, not me.
But so to get back to our questions, speaking of jobs, I'd like to ask you, what is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is I get to learn from students. I know I'm here to teach, but I'm a lifelong learner, and, uh, the students and their creativity and their enthusiasm, it's, it basically, it's very inspiring. It takes me through the day. It makes me love my job.
And I assume, I guess, that's what you love about teaching fashion then.
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. If I were to have another career, it, I would choose the same.
I love that. 'Cause that's actually a question I don't always ask, but I do sometimes wonder, like, okay, if you were to go back in time, 23 years ago or however long ago you'd like to go, would you say, "Hey, you've got this in the bag. Just keep going"? Or would you have said, "Um, you [00:19:00] do have this in the bag, but maybe consider this instead, or maybe do that." Like, you personally.
I love my job. I don't think I'll do anything else.
I love that. And so going, uh, back to 51社区 specifically, what is unique about 51社区's fashion studies program compared to other programs in the Chicagoland area?
It's interesting that you ask me this. Because I've taught at other schools in, uh, in Chicagoland area. One of the best things about 51社区's fashion studies program is the student-teacher ratio. And the relationships that the students build with the student, the teachers build with the students.
We also have state-of-the-art equipment and labs. If you haven't visited us, we are
located in H building. Please come and visit us. It has a robust study abroad program,
which is only specialized for fashion. And one of the recent best things that we've
done for our students is an apprenticeship program in Florence, Italy, [00:20:00]
where they go and they live there for four to eight weeks, and they work with a maker,
with a leather maker, so they can learn how to do leather handbags or shoes, or they
can launch themselves into millinery, which is hat making.
So they're with a maker. They are, they start at 8:00 AM in the morning and they go
on till 5:00 PM. They learn the art of leather making, and they also learn the business
side of it.
This is really funny because I'm just, I'm personally having this little crisis of, oh my God, that sounds so cool, you have to not just switch majors right now.
But I am curious actually, though. Let's say someone comes to 51社区 and they're like, "I'm gonna be a psychology major and get my associate's," and then they somehow stumble across the fashion studies. Like, like, is that... I don't even really know what the question is. I guess, is it easy to transfer into the fashion studies? Is it something where it's like you really should have been here from the start?
We love stealing students. [laughter] [00:21:00] Recently, we had a student who had
enrolled in 51社区 for engineering, and she just, for funsies, she came and took a
class with us, and she withdrew from engineering, and she finished her associate with
us.
She got a full ride to School of Art Institute in the city. She finished her four
years with them, and she's the one who's working at Wilson's now.
Oh my goodness. So, okay. This is kind of in the realm of the fashion studies. This is, it's just me coming up with a question off the top of my head. If a student were interested and didn't know either where to start or just wanted to learn more about what kind of classes, like, are there any classes that come to mind that you think, A, are underrated gems, or B, are good places to start for students if they're curious?
I always tell them that, yeah, we all have watched Project Runway. And we all feel we can be the next Heidi Klum. But the reality is when you [00:22:00] have to get your hands dirty, you start thinking. So I always like for them to take FAS 100, which is our beginning sewing class. It's not for the faint of heart because we teach them how to do the in the industry's way of doing sewing.
Which is good because then they're up to industry standard, but that also means because the industry is pretty intense from what I've heard... it kinda, I just put it like this. I'm guessing it weeds out, like, the people who are like, "I just like to dress up," and the people who are like, "No, I want to make an actual brand for myself," or, "I want to have a line," et cetera, et cetera.
Absolutely. And, and students who come in saying that, "I love fashion because I, I like to dress up good," there is a space for, there is a space in fashion for them. And that is styling. Oh. So there's styling. There's visual merchandising and all of that, and that's part of fashion merchandising. So there is a creative side without sewing, too.
No, I feel like [00:23:00] that reminds me of this might be be a little silly, but I think of store displays and how sometimes there are store displays where I'm like Okay, did you really-- is that really how you thought? I mean, you wanna attract people and鈥kay, this is fine. This is fine. I still wanna shop here because I love your clothes, but also can, can we mess around with this display? So like, are there classes at 51社区 to learn more about that?
Yes, that's our visual merchandising class.
Oh, okay. That's very-- I'm literally like, "Calm yourself. Do not look up the classes. Just stay cool. Stay cool." So I'm curious, what do you hope students take away from the fashion studies program in general?
So, you know, when the students graduate, I know everybody thinks-- wants them to be鈥verybody, including their families, they want to be fashion studies graduate. But I hope that in all of them, they graduate as global citizens, ready to bring a positive [00:24:00] change through fashion. Because right now, the world needs it.
Oh, yes. I definitely get that. And then my final question... Before actually I get to my final question, is there anything that you personally would like to share about either fashion studies, 51社区, at life in general? Anything come to mind?
Again, like I said, I've been in the industry and in academia for many, many years. 51社区 is one of the best places to work. And the resources for the students are just wonderful.
Oh, completely. Now for the actual final question before we call it a day, and I have to just keep it together. Usually, I cry or almost cry during interviews. Now I'm like, "Keep it cool, keep it cool." Obviously, I'm so cool and chill right now. But if you had one piece of advice to give to any aspiring fashion student, what would you say?
I would say just keep chugging along. Take any opportunity that comes to your way. Do not shy away from hard work.
[00:25:00] No, that makes sense. I feel like it's one of those things where it's like, especially if you do like the sewing class, it's probably gonna be like really fun, and then all of a sudden, it's really tiring. And you're like, "But do I still want to do this?" And it's like, yes, you should still keep going. Give it a go.
Give it a go. Keep chugging along. Don't stop. There will be sweat and tears, but everything is for good.
And I feel in general, even if, let's say you decide to go to the merchandise styling, that sort of stuff, they're still applicable skills. And I think being able to learn perseverance and to learn how to keep going in spite of the aches and pains or the emotional turmoil or what have you, that's, that's really worthwhile.
Absolutely. I love fashion, and I hope all the students that are in the department, they are successful one day.
Oh, yes. Me too. Well, I just wanted to say thank you for your time today, Nupur. It's been a delight. [00:26:00] That's all for the interview segment of today's show.