Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
What's New in the D&M Program
- Special Projects for DSMR Students
- Competitions
- Nina Henderson/CoMAD and Baiada Center Business Plan Competitions
- Emilio Pucci Award for Excellence in Design & Merchandising *D&M t-shirt competition
- Fashion Group International's Educational Foundation "Business of Fashion" case study competition
- Annual Distinguished Speaker Event
- Guest Speakers
- Trend Reporting Website
- Design Philadelphia
- The D&M T-shirt Project
- Urban Outfitters Center for Design & Merchandising
Special Projects for DSMR Students
Drexel Fashion 2009
This year's annual Fashion Show, presented by the Fashion Design and Design & Merchandising Programs, will be on Saturday, June 6th at 4 & 8 PM in a brand new location: the Urban Outfitters Corporate Headquarters Campus at the Naval Yard. There will be two shows, 4 PM and 8 PM. Tickets are $25 for the 4 PM show and $50 for the 8 PM show, which includes a reception. To purchase tickets, please call 215-895-0359 or stop by the lobby in Nesbitt Hall, Monday-Friday 10 AM-4 PM.
The show will include graduating Fashion Design student collections of eveningwear, men's and women's wear, sportswear and swimwear, children's wear, lingerie and more. New to this year's program will be a VIP reception to honor Carole Hochman, President of Carole Hochman Design Group and Drexel Alumna. Guests will enjoy a private champagne cocktail reception with the lingerie and sleepwear designer between shows at 6:30 PM. Drexel Fashion Design students with winning lingerie designs judged by Hochman will also attend the event with their garments for guests to view. Tickets to this event can be purchased separately for $150, which includes admission to the 8 PM show and a fabulous gift bag.
The show is produced from start to finish by students in the Design and Merchandising Program who create an impressive scale production that rivals professional fashion shows. The Design and Merchandising students also produce a lifestyle and trend magazine d&m, which guests of the fashion show will receive. This year's magazine is "Adaptation," a theme that focuses on sustainability and green living in a fashion forward world.
Philadelphia Trolley Works will be providing historic trolleys to transport guests from Drexel to the Naval Yard and back for both shows. The naval yard also offers free parking for all attendees that drive to this year's fashion show. For more information please call 215-895-0359.
May 2009
Students designed creative ideas and solutions for window fronts for several restaurants in University City. Audrey Diestelkamp, Kelli Heilenman, Arielle Nathan and Christina Sioutis created a design for Cream and Sugar; Elise Crummie, Jesse Ligo, Alyssa Mirsky and Jordan Shue created a design for Atiya Ola Spirit Foods; Lauren Giarrocco, Juliana Maynard, Lisa Phillips and Elyse Wissman designed for The Gold Standard; and Tiffany Gravinese, Alexandra Jenusaitis, Gina Vigilante and Bobby White created a design for Desi Village.
Henderson Challenge: First Place went to Whitney Enck, Courtney Landis, Wendy Staloff and Danielle Loder for PURE, a premium direct seller of women-specific, all-natural vitamins, supplements and products. PURE representatives would assist in hosting in-home parties for women seeking products that are not easily accessible in parts of Pennsylvania.
Stephanie Fortunato, Samantha Edwards, Antonella Durantine and Elise Shim received Second Place for Novel Notions, a retail store that provides the mature and elderly market with products to aid in daily tasks that may have become difficult as a result of advancing age.
Third Place went to Julia Friedland, Amanda McPartland, Arianna Riccioni, Lesli Fonte and Dana Dougherty for Fresh Paint Skate Shop, a skateboarding retail store and school specifically catered to 6-12 year-olds in Southern New Jersey.
Congratulations to our students and to Professor, Beth Phillips, who was the faculty mentor for all three winning teams.
Dr. Joseph Hancock and Drexel Librarian Ann Keith Kennedy completed the second edition of the Journal of Culture and Retail Image, which features annotative bibliographies and two papers from the D&M STAR Scholars. Click here to read the new issue.
April 2009
Nicole Miller CEO: Legendary fashion retailer Bud Konheim was this year’s Design & Merchandising Program’s 2009 Distinguished Speaker. Founder and CEO of retailer Nicole Miller, Konheim spoke to Fashion’s Past, Present & Future. Konheim met Nicole Miller when she was an undiscovered talent and graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. With Bud overseeing the business side and Nicole the fashion design, they began producing their own line in 1982, and have gained popularity amongst Hollywood celebrities ever since. Miller is considered a pioneer in the use of celebrities as models.
Dr. Joseph Hancock was awarded the 2009 Felicia Campbell Award for Area Chairs in Popular Culture at the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association Area Chairs meeting in New Orleans, LA. His article ‘Chelsea on 5th Avenue: Hypermasculinity and Gay Clone Culture in the Retail Brand Practices of Abercrombie & Fitch’ was included in the first issue of the journal Fashion Practice. Click here to read the article.
Program Director Anne Cecil presented her paper ‘Punk Rock Women Alive and Well in South Philadelphia Part III- Elizabeth Fiend DIY Queen’ at the 39th Annual Popular Culture Association and the 31st Annual American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) conferences both in New Orleans.
Dr. Hancock was the keynote speaker at this year’s Albright College Fashion Show.
March 2009
Greening your Brand: Orly Zeewy, a brand identity consultant and communications strategist, gave the talk Greening Your Brand: Standing Out in the Green Economy about creating stronger products and companies through the use of sustainability and environmentally conscious strategies. Orly clients include Kraft General Foods and Astra/Merck and she provides strategies for Fortune 500 companies to make their brands both greener and more visible to the public.
February 2009
Dr. Joe Hancock was elected to the Mid-Atlantic Costume Society of America Board of Directors. He also gave a lecture Transformations: The Fashion Brand at the University of Delaware
Student Kelli Heilenman and business major Alysia DeStefano dressed the mannequins in the display windows at the Nicole Miller boutique in The Bellevue Hotel.
Student Arielle Esdale had her paintings featured in the ‘Old Hollywood Glamour’ show at TONY, a chic Old City Boutique for swanky dolls in March.
Back to topJanuary 2009
Deborah Nadoolman-Landis, the Academy Award-nominated costume designer of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Animal House and Michael Jackson's Thriller, was a Rankin Scholar-in-Residence. Click here to read more about Deborah.
Dr. Joseph Hancock, received a research fellowship from the London College of Fashion to conduct research in their Research Centre for Fashion, the Body and Material Culture.
December 2008
Five Design & Merchandising students from the 'Design Directions' course are now published authors in the Journal of Culture and Retail Image. The students were instructed in how to write traditional academic papers, synthesizing visual art ideas into a scholarly format for peer-reviewed publication. Professor Joe Hancock and Westphal librarian Ann Keith Kennedy served as editors and chose five out of the twelve papers to be published. The publication is permanently archived in the Drexel library.
October 2008
Nick Cassway, Design & Merchandising Professor, curated the exhibit Metaphoric Vinyl at NEXUS gallery and exhibited 12 video works under the title 'dj YardSale presents: the Third Idea.' The works were mash-up videos using public domain audio and visual materials from the early part of the 20th century. Click here to read about the exhibit.
July 2008
Instructor Nick Cassway was featured in the Citypaper for his Fuzzy Monsters tee-shirt designs. Click here to read the story. To purchase a shirt, visit Nick's website here.
May 2008
Program Director Anne Cecil presented Fish and Lamb: What's a Fashion Designer to do? Icelandic Fashion Nature and Identity at The College of Arts and Sciences and International Area Studies' May International Café on May 21st.
Dr. Joseph Hancock was chosen as the Steinbright Career Development Center's Outstanding Faculty of the Year. Dr. Hancock was also elected to The Fashion Group International, Philadelphia Executive Board.
Project Runway
Drexel University Graduate on Project Runway
Anna Marie Daoud, ('07) Design & Merchandising, appeared on the September 17th, 2008 episode of Project Runway where the designers had to create outfits for recent college graduates. The design created for Anna was in the top three of that episode.
Back to topInterdisciplinary Opportunities
Point of Purchase displays with Music Industry
For the second year, the Design & Merchandising and Music Industry programs join together to provide this interdisciplinary project. D&M students in Visual Merchandising 1 create Point of Purchase displays for Music Industry's bands. Students work in pairs to create a POP display promoting a cd release. The POPs are to be placed on counters at independent record stores. Each one has to hold a max of 5 cds and promote the image of the band.
Students initially meet as a group with the band. After the first meeting, students communicate their ideas directly to the band members through email. Half way through the project we stage a round robin group critique in a speed dating format-7 minutes for each meeting, each group of designers meets with each group of clients. Students incorporate this feedback into further iterations of their design and present the final presentation to the band, their manager and representatives from Music Industry.
The final design chosen for production is created by Cara Binder and Stacey Hudak who produced the POP through an independent study in the winter term. Using a digital printing process, the student's were able to deliver 100 units for under $1000.
Visual Merchandising I
In winter term, D&M students were paired with INTR students to work on a retail store planning process for a store competition. Teams worked togther to devise a theme, business strategy and retail store plan based on the competition criteria.
Back to topRetail Display Windows
Community Project: Retail Store Window Design
Drexel University's Design & Merchandising Program has been dressing windows in Old City, South Street and Lancaster Avenue retail establishments for the past 8 years. Visual merchandising I students work in groups to complete a window display for an assigned client. The project includes several client meetings, development of a proposal including a sketch of the proposed window, lists of student and client responsibilities, management of a budget, and final window installation.
This opportunity provides the students with valuable field experience in the client communication, proposal development and project management and organization and offers a valuable community service as well. The program is successful on several levels as it translates visual merchandising theory into an immediate hands-on experience.
Participating business include:
- La Pearl Beauty Salon
D&M Magazine Publication
May of 2006 celebrated the third publication of the annual D&M Magazine. This publication, the first of its kind within the college, was developed as a teaching tool for marketing and promotion, trending, and merchandising, and journalism skills. It is distributed at the Annual Student Fashion Show, which is also a D&M student production implemented to support and promote the work of Fashion Design majors.
Back to topCIMM Design Guides
Students work in a group all term to develop a small collection for a vertically merchandised retailer like J. Crew. The final portion of the projects includes marketing and store communications in the form of a Design Guide. Students create three ads for use in magazines and store signage. For each ad (3) show the ad, the advertised items on a mannequin, the items of a t-stand, 4-way and wall. This document is distributed to stores for display purposes to ensure a consistent brand image in every store location.
Back to topCompetitions
Design & Merchandising students participate annually in competitions which draw upon different aspects of the curriculum. Most notable among them are the:
Nina Henderson/CoMAD and Baiada Center Business Plan Competitions
D&M students participate yearly in two business plan competitions: the university-wide Baiada Center competition and the Nina Henderson/AWCoMAD competition. Both encourage students to work in teams to develop their ideas from the concept phase through a full business plan. Student teams receive extensive feedback from industry professionals and receive written critiques from a panel of industry judges. Winning teams are awarded cash prizes and certificates for each of the two distinct competitions: the Creative Concept (announced in March) and the completed Business Plan (presented in June.) In 2008 five student teams, working under the direction of Instructor Beth Phillips, were recognized for the excellent of their work.
Second Place in the Baiada Business Incubator Phase Competition was awarded to Rosebud in June 2008. Rosebud won an $8,000 cash prize, $15,000 in in-kind services and office space at the Baiada Incubator Center beginning in September 2008. Rosebud is a planned undergarments boutique aimed uniquely at tweens to educate young girls about the importance of wearing the correct bra size, to encourage them to embrace their body type, and to make ill-fitting undergarments a thing of the past. (Proposed location: Ardmore, PA) Student team: Christine Bugg, Emily Johnson, Jaime Hazley, Kerry Mahoney and Bridget Bramante.
Hopscotch also reached the finals of the Baiada Business Incubator Phase Competition. Hopscotch is a planned children’s wear retailer with products targeted to serve the special needs of families and their chronically ill children receiving long-term treatment at Children’s Hospital of Pennsylvania. (Location: University City, Philadelphia, PA) Student team: Victoria Hanks, Laura Matzel, Jessica Nichols, and Julia Guglielmi.
In the Nina Henderson/AWCoMAD Competition for Best Completed Business Plan (Phase II), D&M teams won 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes:
- First Place was awarded to Terra— a proposed organic and fair-trade denim jeans and T-shirt bar selling quality sustainable fashions to Philadelphia’s increasingly environmentally-minded consumers.
- Proposed location: South Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Student team: Phylicia Foreman, Dijana Nedelcovych, Danielle Felschow, Francisca Etchegaray.
- Second Place was awarded to Rosebud.
- Third Place was awarded to Rocker Kid Studio—a proposed new concept music and video party and event location.
- Proposed location: Wayne: PA
- Student team: Joanne Fiorentino, Lisa DiMartino, Alexandra Malkin, Stacey Hudak
In the Nina Henderson Business Competition Awards for Best Business Concept (Phase I), three D&M teams were recognized:
- Rosebud - an undergarments boutique aimed uniquely at tweens to educate young girls about the importance of wearing the correct bra size, to encourage tweens to embrace their body type, and to make ill-fitting undergarments a thing of the past.
- Location: Ardmore, PA
- Student team: Christine Bugg, Emily Johnson, Jaime Hazley, Kerry Mahoney and Bridget Bramante
- So Sweet - a children's spa and salon for ages 3-12 years featuring fun and age-appropriate services including chocolate facials, airbrush tattoos, and healthy nail and foot care.
- Location: Ardmore, PA
- Student team: Kiersten Belousofsky, Cara Binder, Lauren Burke
- Terra - an organic and fair-trade denim jeans and T-shirt bar selling quality sustainable fashions to Philadelphia's increasingly environmentally-minded consumers.
- Location: South Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Student team: Phylicia Foreman, Dijana Nedelcovych, Danielle Felschow, Francisca Etchegaray
Emilio Pucci Award for Excellence in Design & Merchandising
Drexel Design and Merchandising students have the opportunity to compete for a $1,000 prize to be used for study abroad. Students are invited to submit a paper examining the influence of a prominent Italian designer of the mid-20th century on later American ready-to-wear and home furnishing design. The key designers of the period include:
- Pucci
- Gucci
- Missoni
- Fendi
- Locatelli
Phylicia Foreman was the recipient of the inaugural award in June 2007.
Fashion Group International's Educational Foundation "Business of Fashion" case study competition
In the area of merchandising and strategic planning, which teaches students to strategically plan a retail launch.
Back to topD&M Annual Distinguished Speaker Event
In April 2003, the Design & Merchandising program launched the Distinguished Speaker event. The event invites accomplished individuals in the areas of product development, retail management, special events, product promotion or merchandising media to present their experience and vision of the design and fashion industries to students, faculty, alumni, and the community at large. It is an excellent opportunity for experts to share their points of view, ideas, perspectives and accomplishments.
Since its inception D&M faculty and students have welcomed:
- Dana Thomas (2008) - Fashion Journalist and Author of "Deluxe how Luxury lost its luster."
- Glen Senk (2007) - President of Anthropologie, Inc. and Executive Vice President of Urban Outfitters, Inc.
- Brini Maxwell (2006) - star of Style network's "Brini Maxwell Show" and principal of Brini Maxwell Enterprises
- Bob Giampietro (2005) - Vice President for Strategic Alliances at Target Corporation
- Gail Onorato (2004) - Vice President for New Product Initiatives at Liz Claiborne, Inc.
- George Hall (2003) - Associated Merchandising Corporation/Target Buying Offices
D&M Guest Speakers
Whether studying in Iceland or London, traveling to New York or throughout the Philadelphia region, students have opportunities to meet and network with design and merchandising professionals during their time in the program. Recent speakers include:
Guest Speakers
- Heather Iwanow, Senior Lecturer, Clothing Design & Technology, Manchester Metropolitan Univerisity (UK), "Fashion's Environmental Footprint."
- Jessica Strubel, PhD. Ohio State University, "Fashion, Music and Identity."
- Chris Maher, Manger Internet and E-Commerce development, L'Oreal USA
- Suzanne Sullivan, Regional Store Manager, Victoria's Secret
- Benjamin Lovell, Owner, Benjamin Lovell Shoes, Philadelphia and branches
- Paula Correri, Fashion Editor, Tobe Reports
- Craig DeLarge, Manager Integrated E-business Solutions, Glaxco Smith Kline
- Lauren DeCarlo, Market Editor, Women's Wear Daily
- Debbie Sokoloski, General Merchandise Manager, Intertex Apparel Group
- Charlynn Walker, Manager, Kenneth Cole
- Catherine Santos, Tiffany & Co.
- Basia Szkutnicka, Trend Forecaster, London College of Fashion (United Kingdom)
- Judy Deuchar, Director of Merchandising, QVC (United Kingdom)
- Gina Deeble, Manager of Internet Content, QVC (United Kingdom)
- Marguerite Stanton, Store Manager, Loehmann's Department Store
- Kristie Weir, Visual Merchandise Coordinator, David's Bridal
- Daniel Green, Manger Couture Collections, Neiman Marcus, King of Prussia
- Suzanne Casabello, Creative Designs International
- Andre Mitchell, Owner, Bias Fashions
- Dana Thomas, Author Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster
- Bud Konheim, Founder and CEO of Nicole Miller
Trend Reporting Website
In January of 2003 a D&M Trend Reporting Website was developed to prepare students as future professionals in the trend forecasting sector of the fashion and design industries.
Back to topDesign Philadelphia
Student teams in the Design & Merchandising program of the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design (CoMAD) at Drexel University partnered with the South Street Headhouse District (SSHHD) to develop new retail business concepts for the area. The South Street Business Improvement District's current reappraisal and reinvigoration of its retail environment provided a perfect opportunity to partner with the creative thinking and business vision of Drexel's Design & Merchandising majors. Teams developed concepts for viable and vibrant retail additions to the area's retail mix.
Decosphere
Decosphere is a boutique featuring a well-edited assortment of stylish decorative accessories and fine household items, all of which reflect a combination of Eastern and Western designs. Decosphere is perfectly positioned to meet the flourishing decorative needs and desires of the hot housing markets in Queen Village, Society Hill, South Street, and Old City.
Team: Mi-Jin Lim, Keni Ng, Andrea Santiago, Emily Webb
Bug Jar
Bug Jar is a children's apparel boutique inspired by an urban aesthetic. The retailer provides the city's youngest dwellers and their parents with fashion that distinguishes itself from the predictable choices found at the national chains.
In March 2006, Bug Jar was recognized as 1 of the top 3 business concepts in the Nina Henderson Business Plan Competition, sponsored annually by the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts and Design.
Team: Danielle Acito, Rachel Harr, Ashley McDonald, Jane Valasek
Escape
Escape is dedicated to minimizing the stress experienced by today's busy individuals. Escape's spa products and personal relaxation products enable the user to create the spa experience at home. Its products are carefully selected to enhance the client's sense of well-being and delight.
Team: Alexis Ganop, Ashley Irons, Allie Jacobson, Carrie Young
The D&M T-shirt Project
A branding and publicity exercise created to further support the D&M Magazine and Annual Fashion Show.
Back to topUrban Outfitters Center for Design & Merchandising
In June of 2001 the Design & Merchandising program opened the Urban Outfitters Center for Design & Merchandising. The suite houses a classroom with enough space to host fashion critiques and adequately accommodate large classes and group work, a state of the art computer lab for technical design skill building, several faculty offices, and a display cabinet for exhibiting outstanding student work.