Los Gatos Weekly-Times

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Model Jeanette Marroquin, 5, of Stockton, can't contain her curiosity about the hoop skirt worn by model Chara Gorman. The skirt was designed by Tiffany Tamboury.

WVC fashion design program offers a taste of the real world

By Chantal Lamers

Cris Applegate sat with his elbows on a table in West Valley College's campus center, watching the rehearsal of the Fashion Design and Apparel Technology Department's annual show. He said the last two months were stressful for him. In that time, he designed five gowns for the show.

The fashion show took place May 9, with a champagne reception, a gallery opening displaying student art and a runway show like those in New York, Paris or Milan. Many agree, this is the most experience someone can get in the fashion industry without actually being there.

The program is the largest of its kind in North America, according to Sally Aitken, one of two full-time instructors.

The fashion show is just a fragment of the energy Applegate and hundreds of other students put in throughout the year. Many commute from all over the Bay Area just to be a part of this program, which got under way in 1984, when an advisory board was established with representatives from companies like Levi Strauss and Jessica McClintock.

Since then, the department has been able to keep on track and to expand. Aitken said that there is something in the program for the companies, the representatives and the students. "They (the companies) saw the need for qualified employees. They have a difficult time filling these positions, and it helps their business while they give something to the students."

Aitken, who worked in the fashion industry for about 10 years before becoming an instructor, said that all of the staff have experience in the fashion industry.

"They add a real relevance. They are doing it all day, and then they come to school and teach the students."

Kaee Min, the department's other full-time instructor, says that many of the eight part-time instructors work in San Francisco, San Leandro and Berkeley. After work and on days off, they find time to teach.

"For them, it's pretty intense. They give 150 percent, and they do it because they love it," Min said.

Riaz Finnemore, once a student in the program, is one of those instructors.

His new snowboarding line, "Union," made up of clothing he describes as "waterproof, yet breathable," was featured in the fashion show and will hit the stores in the fall.

Min referred to the fashion design program as "Aitken's baby".

"She's a bit of a workaholic. She's been really involved since the beginning," Min said, referring to Aitken's 12 years of teaching.

When Aitken realized technology could be incorporated into the program, she wrote a grant that supplied the department with one computer. It didn't take long for her to discover that it wasn't enough.

She wrote to Gerber Garment Technology, which manufactures a software called "Accumark," and proposed to the company that WVC become its West Coast Technology Training Center. Aitken envisioned a department that would train the next workforce in the newest of technology, and she got it.

With the software, students can learn the same technology that employees in the fashion industry are using. The software enables students to create patterns on the computer screen and to turn the pattern from a size eight to a size four. The Silhouette System allows students to draft the pattern on a digitized drafting board that appears on the computer screen as the pattern is being designed.

The 20 new work stations the program originally received from the college and GGT have since increased to 34.

Min, who worked in the industry for 10 years before making the switch to teaching, believes that the West Valley program is as successful as those of private schools throughout the country. While some students pay thousands of dollars to learn the technology of the industry, students at WVC only pay $13 dollars a unit.

Min said another advantage is students at WVC can study part time in the morning, afternoon or evening, while most private schools require students to attend full time. Enrollment is booming.

"We were totally amazed," Min said referring to a recent enrollment of 275 students. "We had more students than we anticipated. It was really surprising."

Out of all the technology, teaching and hours these instructors put in come students ready to take on the fashion industry, like Alice Payton, winner of this year's Outstanding Fashion Design award.

Aitken said instructors were particularly pleased with Payton's willingness to help fellow classmates.

The development of the fashion design program is far from over. Min and Aitken have a five-year plan that includes incorporating other departments into fashion design.

"The skills for designing a blouse can be taken into other industries," Aitken said. "Our students could be working for NASA."

Aitken said that GGT is used to help design the inside of the space shuttle, to make toys and to create the costumes for Walt Disney Studios.

"Fashion design isn't always a first choice of parents for their children, but now we can show them that we're about a lot more than fashion shows," Aitken said.

This year, 120 extra seats had to be put in at the last minute to accommodate the sold-out fashion show.

"The fashion show is proof that we're beginning to make a name for ourselves," Min said. "People in the industry never knew where Saratoga was before."

Tiffany Tamboury, 24, is graduating this spring and says that soon she'll be on her way to Los Angeles to work on costumes and film.

Tamboury said her line, the "Tiffany Collection," is whimsical and dramatic, made up of hoop skirts and bustles that are worn over the clothes instead of underneath.

"I can't wait to see what they look like on the models," Tamboury said.

Over 40 models filled skirts, blouses, gowns, tuxedos and hats the night of the fashion show. Gerry Simpson, who runs his own acting and modeling agency, coordinated the models on the runway, a job he has had for the past five years.

The show began with a children's line that gathered laughs from the audience while the kids trotted down the runway, smiling, some not sure what to do once they got there.

But when tall, blonde, 18-year-old Eva Curtis walked out on stage in a revealing beige vest and pants, the audience wasn't laughing anymore. A silence set in, and the audience sat mesmerized.

Aitken said the best part of the show is seeing how proud the students are of their work. She said that when most of the students start off in the program, they have no confidence.

"It's gratifying to see how it all comes together," she said.

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