The Department of Fashion Design is internationally recognized for its unique interdisciplinary program within a fine arts foundation. Its nontraditional, undergraduate, three-year curriculum within the four-year degree program instills an awareness of the social, political, and technological forces shaping the 21st century.

To learn more about the fashion department visit the Fashion department webpage.

image_link 2008 Fashion Show

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.
– Annual Fashion Show

May 2008 fundraiser, The Walk

image_link Karen Frank, SAIC President Tony Jones, Maria Smithburg
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link Fashion Design department chair Nick Cave and Ikram Goldman
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link Rich Gamble, Melissa Gamble, and Melissa Sage Fadim
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link Tommy Price, Howard Ecker (wearing a coat designed by Tommy Price), and Roger Walton
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link Maria Pinto, Whitney Lasky, and Amy Tara Koch (wearing Jasmin Shokrian, SAIC alumna)
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link SAIC student Tyler Coughlin and alumna Kristina Sparks; (model at left is wearing one of Coughlin's garments designed for Fashion Show 2008)
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
image_link SAIC alumna J. Morgan Puett, Andrea Reynders, and Mary Jane Jacob
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.

 

April 2008 Fashion Press Kickoff

Catherine Mudd, Greg Scott, Mary Hamilton
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
Nick Cave, Catherine Mudd, Alice Schoenau, Rachel Frank, Greg Scott
Photo credit: Danny Hsu
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
Nick Cave, Amy Tara Koch, Greg Scott
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.

 

Selected student profiles

 

Tyler Coughlin

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

The mystical phoenix sacrifices itself for renewal and falls to ashes. From those ashes arises a new phoenix. This collection is about the phoenix and the turmoil that causes it to fall. When it rises from the ashes, is it cleansed of its past? Or do some of the ashes stay with the phoenix, corrupting it, causing it to fall once more?

(Contact Info for Tyler: 7 W. Madison St. #701, Chicago, IL 60602, 847.913.6646/tcough@saic.edu, tcough@artic.edu)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

Min Jeong Ko

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

Inspired by the woodcraft furniture and traditional Japanese cabinetry, tansu, my collection investigates the relationship between furniture and garment construction. Manipulating fabric to appear as wood grains, and shaping garments to resemble flat-wooded furniture patterns and wood joints, each garment carries the idea of actual furniture as non-functional furniture: "table leg dress," "piano top." 'bed frame skirt," "the little girl's wooden closet," "tansu dress,' wingback chair jacket," "wood grain table top," and "wood grain table pants."

(Contact Info for Min Jeong: 408 Kristin St., Westmont, IL 60559, 630.655.2203/mink220@msn.com, mko@saic.edu)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

Mi Ri Uhm

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, homeless is defined as "1 Having no home or permanent abode. 2 Affording no home or dwelling-place." But I disagree. To be homeless does not meant to be without a house. I believe that the homeless find a home in their clothing.
My collection mixes glamorous and utilitarian clothing. It takes inspiration from the accumulation of materials and belongings that must be carried with a homeless person at all times. Through my work in fashion, I hope people might realize that the homeless cannot be defined by how they look or where they live, but rather as human.

(Contact Info for Mi Ri: 222 W. Columbus Dr., Apt. 1003, Chicago, IL 60601, 312.339.2942/uhmmil@hotmail.com)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

 
image SAIC Fashion 2007
video podcast [24.12MB QuickTime version]
video podcast [10.87MB .m4v version]
The product of four years of study, hard work, and intense imagination, SAIC's Fashion Show is the culminating event for the School's BFA students in fashion design. SAIC Fashion 2007 captures the excitement, dedication, and inspiration of the senior class as they prepare to put their designs on the runway.

Fashion Show 2007 images for press

Jessica Wright
Cloakz
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
Bhawna Singh
Equestrian Fare
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
Robyn Coffey
Queen of Hearts
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
Megan Giese
Lady MacBeth
Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography
[view print version]
Click on the [view print version] link to view the print ready image. To download the print ready image right click on the image and save to your desktop.
 

SAIC Fashion Design: Three Years of Looks : 2005-2006-2007
download video podcast

View a compilation of work representing the innovative designs of SAIC's BFA students in fashion design.
 

image link

See also at SAIC on ITunes U
 

Contact Caren Yusem for high resolution images at cyusem@saic.edu.

 
– Press Releases

Link to Press Releases:

Fashion Show 2008 at the Historic Sullivan Center
First Master's of Fashion Design for Chicago; SAIC Launches One of Few Graduate Fashion Programs
Fashion 2007 Challenging Boundaries - Weaving Social and Cultural Issues
SAIC Fashion 2007 Scholarships and Awards
Fashion Focus Chicago 2007: Fresh Ideas Presented by the School of the Art Institute

 
– Profiles

Tyler Coughlin

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

The mystical phoenix sacrifices itself for renewal and falls to ashes. From those ashes arises a new phoenix. This collection is about the phoenix and the turmoil that causes it to fall. When it rises from the ashes, is it cleansed of its past? Or do some of the ashes stay with the phoenix, corrupting it, causing it to fall once more?

(Contact Info for Tyler: 7 W. Madison St. #701, Chicago, IL 60602, 847.913.6646/tcough@saic.edu, tcough@artic.edu)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

Min Jeong Ko

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

Inspired by the woodcraft furniture and traditional Japanese cabinetry, tansu, my collection investigates the relationship between furniture and garment construction. Manipulating fabric to appear as wood grains, and shaping garments to resemble flat-wooded furniture patterns and wood joints, each garment carries the idea of actual furniture as non-functional furniture: "table leg dress," "piano top." 'bed frame skirt," "the little girl's wooden closet," "tansu dress,' wingback chair jacket," "wood grain table top," and "wood grain table pants."

(Contact Info for Min Jeong: 408 Kristin St., Westmont, IL 60559, 630.655.2203/mink220@msn.com, mko@saic.edu)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

Mi Ri Uhm

Photo credit: Jim Prinz Photography

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, homeless is defined as "1 Having no home or permanent abode. 2 Affording no home or dwelling-place." But I disagree. To be homeless does not meant to be without a house. I believe that the homeless find a home in their clothing.

My collection mixes glamorous and utilitarian clothing. It takes inspiration from the accumulation of materials and belongings that must be carried with a homeless person at all times. Through my work in fashion, I hope people might realize that the homeless cannot be defined by how they look or where they live, but rather as human.

(Contact Info for Mi Ri: 222 W. Columbus Dr., Apt. 1003, Chicago, IL 60601, 312.339.2942/uhmmil@hotmail.com)

Download print ready images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5
* To download the print ready image right click on the filename and save to your desktop.

 

 
 
– In the press
SAIC's Fashion Show 2008 is featured on the cover of the May 12 issue of Women's Wear Daily, a first for the School. Pictured is the work of senior Min Jeong Ko. The article begins, "Not all graduating seniors have commercial currency on the brain. The fashion institute students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, for instance, have opted overwhelmingly for the conceptual in their design...."

Please find a link to the article here: http://www.wwd.com/monday

SAIC faculty member Shane Gabier and alumnus Christopher Peters' new clothing line Creatures of the Wind was featured on the cover of the June 24 issue of Women's Wear Daily. The article begins, "The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and the city's indie art scene proved the jumping points for fledging line..."