But fashion design is exactly what Kathy Evans has on her mind.

Evans is the fashion design and merchandising program chairwoman of 3-year-old Brooks College in Sunnyvale, an offshoot of the 30-year old Brooks College in Long Beach.

Surrounded here by the likes of National Semiconductor, Synopsys and Network Appliance, it seems only natural that modern technology would blend seamlessly into the fashion world, where fashion design students are assisted by software in the production of their clothing and accessories.

Brooks College students earn associate degrees in graphic design, network technology, fashion design and fashion merchandising.

On Sept. 18, students got to put it all together for the school's second fashion show, "Imagine."

Students strutted their stuff at the Santa Clara Convention Center and gave the $2,600 in ticket sales to the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford. The proceeds represented a 40 percent increase over last year's take.

The show was a collaborative effort by students.

Some 50 fashion design students put together 78 garments for the runway, and the show was set up, promoted, staged and produced by the fashion-merchandising students. The graphic design department developed the images and produced the promotional material for the show, which included invitations, fliers, and show programs.

Evans and the schools' other instructors used the fashion show as a hands-on learning tool. The show parallels real life experiences, Evans says.

It seems easy enough to sketch out an outfit and imagine how it will look on a model gliding down the runway, but Evans says it takes more than just imagination to get that garment from paper to stage.

It is precisely what they learn in classes.

In a recent pattern production class, Evans wanders about looking over the shoulders of students. They are translating their illustrations into cuttable patterns that they hope will turn their designs into stylish clothing.

Evans stops to admire a slinky, body-hugging sleeveless design and asks the student: "How are you going to get into this?"

It's one thing to dream up a dress, it's another to be able to sew it, wear it and be able to stand and sit in it.

"I'm using a side zipper," says the student, pointing with her pencil to the mid-section of the full-length gown.

Evans says the goal is to get students to think technically and logistically while encouraging them to develop their creative side.

That imaginative side was on full display at the fashion show.

For the "Innovation" category, students entered wearable clothing made out of "unusual and unlikely" non-fabric materials.

Students used everything from duct tape to yellow "caution" tape to create their wearable art.

Jazz Vasquez, the winner in that category, modeled her own creation, a dress made of children's flash cards and pencils.

Vasquez's dress was actually for a class project. Another student in that same class made a dress, fashioning the bodice out of a newspaper's comic section and the skirt out of bubble wrap.

Evans says exercises such as this help students "think out of the box." Last year one of the projects was titled "How to make a bra not a bra."

Inspired students brought back bras that were turned into beaded handbags, a lion's head, slippers and a hat. This year's project will be "How to make a shoe not a shoe."

To train their senses, students were sent to capture the flavor of a specific San Francisco neighborhood. They were to gain an understanding of the community by wandering the streets inhaling the smells, and listening to conversations, cars, trolleys and merchants.

It was a project students enjoyed.

They tend to grumble about other assignments, Evans says, but the projects they complain about are the foundations of what will ultimately make students marketable in the retail and fashion industry.

Some of those assignments include analyzing trends.

Evans says students are instructed to predict what they see as upcoming trends and back up their prediction with historical evidence.

One student saw more crochet garments in our fashion future. She returned to the late 1960s and early 1970s for samples of what we may be wearing more of in 2006.

"They have to prove by data and research why they predict what will be coming," Evans says.

This is what merchandisers do, Evans says, when they develop lines of clothing for the market.

Student Crystal Nance took her design from start to a final product she calls "premier jean wear," an outfit she created, constructed, and modeled on the runway for the Imagine fashion show.

Nance took light blue jean-like fabric and made a pair of slim-fitting pants and a matching jacket with a lace back over a darker blue background.

"It can go from day into night," she says.

She also created an outfit for her 4-year-old daughter, Nadia, to wear so the two could walk down the runway together.

Nance calls Nadia's outfit "Cherry on top." It is a sleeveless sundress made of scattered red cherries on stems printed on a white background. A complementing floppy hat was made of Nance's light blue jean fabric with the matching cherry-print material as the underside.

Students learn how to manually lay out patterns for their designs. They also learn how to transfer their drawings into patterns with modern technology. (Gerber Technology is the most widely used system in the apparel, transportation, upholstered furniture and industrial fabric industry.)

The technology can help students create patterns that are the most cost-effective use of fabric.

Students also learn how to use Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to assist in design merchandising aspects.

After creating a pattern and cutting out the design parts in fabric, Nance put her outfits together in a room at Brooks College lined with rows of sewing machines. This is where the students' designs come to fruition.

The most important finished product is the students themselves and the jobs they get when they are done.

Two weeks ago Melanie Kaye, a graphics design instructor, and her students updated the school's Wall of Success.

A dark blue background serves as the foundation for painted-on words--such as progress, achievement, fame, success, effectiveness, accomplishment, triumph, big hit, grand slam, and more--designed to inspire and encourage current and future students.

Dozens of picture frames to be hung on the wall are filled with the names of former students, their photos and the titles they've earned at their jobs.

For example, Erica Cruz got a job with Rosalena, a costume jewelry company; Erica Cowell got a job as an assistant designer with White Sierra; and Alissa Alameda got a job as a merchandise technical assistant at Macy's.

"This is where we are showcasing successful graduates on our wall of fame," Kaye says.

For more information about Brooks College Sunnyvale, go to www.brookssv.com.