The mentoring process for these teams of student designers is quite a long one. Each student starts with their mentors junior year and continues their work all the way through senior year culminating with this incredible evening of collections. Each collection is based upon an inspiration, be it a place, a color, or a specific construction concept. For instance, mentor Todd Oldham’s team constructed their collection around sportswear, using found objects and recycled garmets. While the mentors and teaching faculty are extremely important in the design process, the final product is created completely by the students. As design student Lisa Uchiyama explains, (she worked on teams for both Morgane Le Fay and Ame Austin Max for MaxStudio), “What I think Otis really does is you’re building relationships with these people that have already been in the industry. They’ve done amazing stuff in the industry and know what they’re talking about. So you feel comfortable laying your designs in front of them knowing they’re going to give you feedback you can trust and take because they’ve gone through the process of doing these designs and making the dresses work or not work.” Many of the mentors this year were Otis alumni themselves and thus familiar with the mentoring program. But for those designers who were not Otis alum, how did they get involved in the rewarding mentoring process? Their participation has much to do with the passion of Rosemary Brantley, founding chair of Otis’ fashion design department, who also founded the mentoring program 32 years ago. A graduate of the Parsons School of Design, where she was mentored by designers such as Ralph Lauren, Brantley sought to reach out to the same caliber of people she worked with at Parsons. Every year, she goes after companies with great reputations and nationally recognized names always with an eye towards what will be best for her students. When asked how she chooses her mentoring companies, she said, “If it’s happening, we’re there. We’re always looking for who’s hot, who’s next.” The Otis mentor program doesn’t just give students great opportunities while they’re in school; as Brantley explains, “Once these companies start working with these kids, they start hiring the kids. There are seven major Nike sports companies in the world and five are run by Otis alum. We’re always looking for new companies to expose these kids.” Brantley’s passion and dedication to the program is evident year-round; when spoken to a few days after the benefit she said, “Already this morning we were sitting down thinking okay, who can we have as mentors next year?” Not only were eleven fantastic collections shown during the runway show, the night ended with a spectacular performance featuring aerial artists, ballet dancers and acrobats. All performers were clad in exquisite theatrical costumes inspired by crystals, from sunrise to starry night. The costumes were designed by Otis students and mentored by costume designer Dominique Lemieux from Cirque du Soleil. For the Otis College senior fashion design class, this annual event is a celebration of literally years of difficult and dedicated work. A few lucky teams will even have their designs displayed for two weeks in the store windows of Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. What comes next for the 2012 Otis senior class is leaving their school community to put their hardearned skills into practice. If these collections are any indication, the fashion industry is about to gain some extremely talented new designers. written by Meghan Wilson photography by Kai He
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JUNE 2012 - the Los Angeles Fashion