FASHION DESIGN
Columbia’s Fashion Design program stresses both theory and practice, emphasizing the balance of aesthetic, technical, and business skills combined with social and historical knowledge that form the foundation of successful design. Here we present current lines by two successful graduates of the program, and new looks from some of our students poised to enter the field.

DieterBennet
is a collaboration between Dieter Kirkwood (B.F.A. ’04) and Bennett Cousins (B.F.A. ’04), who met as students at Columbia. The label combines Kirkwood’s technical and design skill with Cousins’s merchandising know-how, producing a line with a clean, architectural sensibility. The designers source the fabric themselves and every garment is sewn locally, often with hand-finished seaming. This attention to detail and craftsmanship sets the line apart.

DieterBennet is available in Chicago at Helen Yi (1645 North Damen Ave.). See more at dieterbennet.com.

Anna Fong
(B.A. ’01) was named 2008 rising star of new designers by Fashion Group International. Drawing on her Guatemalan-Chinese heritage and her fondness for the fashions of the 1940s and the 1980s, Fong brings a mix of influences to her work. She maintains a design studio in Chicago, where her work is available at Verse, LeDress, Malabar Chicago, and Macy’s State Street.

See more of her designs at anna-fong.com.

Launch,
a student-produced fashion show featuring the work of 47 fashion design seniors, made its debut May 14 as part of Manifest 2009. The high-energy runway show was produced by fashion design and fashion retail management students enrolled in Dianne Erpenbach’s Decision Making: Fashion/Retail Management course. Several designers were also featured in Fashion Columbia, an annual fashion show and scholarship fundraising event that showcases the work of Columbia’s fashion design students. Photos: Jonathan Mathias (photography, class of 2010)