The Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising (the Fashion School) at Kent State University sent a large and active contingent to the 2014 conference of the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA). A group of 13 faculty members and 5 undergraduate students from the Fashion School participated in this year’s conference, held Nov. 12–16 in Charlotte N.C. Additionally, a few returned to Kent with some of the ITAA’s most prestigious awards.
Among the faculty members who had design work accepted, Associate Professor Linda Öhrn-McDaniel was honored with two separate design awards. Her “T-Shirt Dress,” created entirely from repurposed secondhand t-shirts, won the 1st Place Cotton Incorporated Innovations in Cotton Design Award, while “Shaped by a Stitch” earned the Lectra Outstanding Faculty Designer Award.
Dr. Kim Hahn, associate director and associate professor, received the Sandra Hutton Award for Excellence in Fiber Arts for her “Magma Shrouds,” a vivid, sunset-hued woven jacket inspired by traditional Korean outerwear. Dr. Tameka Ellington, assistant professor, was presented the Creative and Innovative Employment of Techniques Award for “Baobab a.k.a. the Upside-Down Tree,” which interpreted an African fable of the tree’s origins in the form of a coat that appears upside-down when worn. Dr. Ellington was also honored with the Lectra Innovation Award for Teaching Design Principles and Aesthetics.
Kent State professors also had five other design pieces accepted at the faculty and professional level, including work by Assistant Professors Margarita Benitez and Kendra Lapolla. The Fashion School students with work accepted at the undergraduate level were Luiza Ferronatto, Anastasia Iafrate, Madison Palen-Michel and Ariel Pingault.
In addition to design contributions, Fashion School faculty members and students collectively appeared in 20 presentations and panels. Those presenting were: J.R. Campbell, Fashion School director; Dr. Tameka Ellington; Kasia Gibbs, undergraduate fashion merchandising major; Dr. Kim Hahn; Dr. Johghan Hyun, assistant professor; Dr. Jihyun Kim, associate professor; Kendra Lapolla; Dr. Catherine Leslie, associate professor; Dr. Harriet McLeod, lecturer; Linda Öhrn-McDaniel; Noël Palomo-Lovinski, associate professor; Sara Snyder, lecturer; and Dr. Nancy Stanforth, associate professor.
The ITAA is the global organization of textile and apparel scholars. For more information, visit http://itaaonline.org/.
For additional photos of faculty and student designs accepted by the ITAA, visit the Fashion School's Flickr page.
Photo: Linda Öhrn-McDaniel's "Shaped by a Stitch." Image courtesy of the ITAA.
Contact: Alex Parrott, marketing assistant, cparrot1@kent.edu
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