School of Art lacks fashion

Kayla Webley
2004-05-25
The Daily

Emma Lee Whitworth wants to do more than just create clothes -- she wants to study them.

Whitworth, a UW sophomore, said she has played with clothes for years, but only recently became serious about fashion design.

"It started a long time ago, but last year I got into this whole scarf thing, where I take scarves and tie them around me ... that kind of progressed to taking other shirts and cutting them up," Whitworth said.

Whitworth does not know how to sew, so she relies on scissors and ribbon to make her clothing creations. Recently, Whitworth made a two-layer tube top whose materials were once a skirt and a dress.

"I go to Value Village for the sole purpose of finding clothes I can modify," Whitworth said. "A lot of the time it is shirts that I can make a different neckline or cut off the shoulders and make tank tops or shrugs ... I tie them in these very intricate, different ways. Because I don't know how to sew, ribbons became very important in trying to fasten things."

The UW School of Art, however, does not have a fashion-design program. According to Chris Ozubko, director of the School of Art, there are several reasons why students at the University cannot study fashion design, one of which is the lack of a strong community base.

"A fashion program at a School of Art should be supported by a community base," he said. "There is an absence of practicing professionals in the industry here."

Ozubko said the absence of professionals in the vicinity of Seattle would deny students the opportunity to gain firsthand experience in the field.

"Students will take field trips right into the fashion scene, like in New York City there are designers and manufacturers all located within a convenient area, but that is not the case here," he said.

Whitworth, an English and African studies major, was once a student in the School of Art, but changed her major because there was no fashion-design program.

"I wish there was a fashion design program here; I'd be in it in a minute," she said.

Whitworth feels fashion-design could be a very academic program.

"We are here to open our minds and learn how to add to the community when we get out; whether people want to admit it or not, fashion and the way we represent ourselves ... is very influential in society," Whitworth said. "If you wanted an academic side, study fashion and how it has influenced people over the years and what's being focused [on] and what is not."

According to Whitworth, a fashion-design program could be easily integrated into the School of Art.

"If you go into an art class, they are going to teach you about lines, tones, colors and perspective. and you can use all that and apply it to fashion," Whitworth said. "I think it would be a natural step ... going into dressing those naked figures that they are having you draw."

Ozubko said he is skeptical of a fashion-design program's place at an academic university because he considers fashion design more of a professional program. Ozubko also said the program is not in high demand.

"We have actually little request for it; even if someone requested it, the advisors would say we don't have it, but you might take this or this, or go to another school," said Ozubko.

Ozubko does not view the transition to a fashion-design program as easily feasible.

"We would need one or two faculty positions, plus a technician," Ozubko said. "We would have to pay $1.5 million per faculty and $300,000 for a technician. We would need space, equipment and an operating budget. If there was about $10 million, we'd be able to do it," he said.

But a fashion design program at the University would have not only kept Whitworth in the School of Art, but provided a practical career opportunity.

"I would have stayed in," Whitworth said. "One of the reasons why I dropped was because I wanted to be in something more broad that gave me more opportunities. Painting and metal work is really cool, but it wouldn't translate into something practical that I could continue with."

"Many don't translate into real-world job experience and fashion is a way to apply those things."