Trisha Frick, Girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, in Academy of Couture Art costume Snow White

The Playboy Mansion kicked off Halloween with a smashing party October 27th in Beverly Hills. The fairest of them all was Snow White; Trisha Frick, girlfriend of Hugh Hefner, looked enchanting.

"Such a  great opportunity to work on a special costume from measuring it to final fitting and ... being able to make it for beauty, not just to complete it.” - Katherine ENYART,Academy of Couture Art Pattern Design Chairperson

The Academy of Couture Art was honored by a second commission from the Mansion to design and create Trisha's couture Halloween costume. Her 2012 theme of Snow White was a very special dedication to her dear friend Halley.

"Excited and nervous, excited because you get to gain experience for the future, nervous because you know it has to be perfect.” - Valery MIRANDA, Fashion Design, Freshman

Perfection, beauty, and love was shared among the Academy of Couture Art community as the team crafted Trisha's costume. We hear it first from our student designer Laura KIRANI:

"Snow white she said...Trisha Frick was her name simple and yet beautiful, she charmed us all when she walked in. An announcement was made, by the Saturday before halloween, a sexy Snow White was to be made. I dazzled most at the thought of being able to see the fabric, to be able to be apart of creating something so extravagant, so bold and original, being able to give life to a costume of such desire and grace. With each passing seam, like air filling a baby's lungs for the first time, life takes the form of this costume, with every pressing of the iron giving it more shape, like opening your eyes and seeing for the first time. With each pin and connection of the pieces, giving me a feeling of excitement and feeling of flying that we did this, all of us. We gave life to that which starting as nothing less of cut fabric, lifeless and plain just awaiting the day in which to be whole." - Laura KIRANI, Fashion and Pattern Design, Freshman

Thank you Trisha for the amazing experience! You are gorgeous both inside and out. With love from the Academy of Couture Art design team:

(Left)
Anna SOTNICHENKO
Laura KIRANI
Rahel SHAREW
Nikolle RAMIREZ MEJIA
Mentor: Katherine ENYART

(Right)
Lead Mentor: Sonia ETE
Emma CHEN
Valery MIRANDA
Nicole GRANT

(Photographer)
Kym SHERMAN, Kym Stylz

Hear it from the Team:

How did you feel? What will you take from the experience? Would do it again?

"I liked working with passionate teachers, friendly class mates, and just over all loved it.” - Emma CHEN

"Admiration of others with years of experience to design a gorgeous Halloween costume.” - Kym Stylz

"Helped me by giving me the opportunity to work in a group and gain that experience for the future.” - Nikolle RAMIREZ

"Definitely do it, to have opportunity to work on an elaborate costume, to learn about the construction of the costume and to be able to work  as a team again.” -Nicole GRANT

"Love to, appreciate the possibility that Sonia gave us to help, very inspired to help work on future projects.” -Anna SOTNICHENKO

Academy of Couture Art gets a double take from Monaco!

From Los Angeles to Monaco, the Academy of Couture Art designers are causing a double take within the industry. Able to hold their own on the couture circuit, this June 23 at the Sofitel Hotel in Los Angeles (near Beverly Hills) the secret to haute couture and the Academy of Couture Art will be revealed. 

In Monaco, ACA designers presented a collection paired with red carpet couturier, Gilbert Chagoury Couture, at the Monaco Charity Film Festival held outdoors at the beautiful Villa & Jardins Ephrussi de Rothschild in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. The designs went beyond expectations. 

Couture is not only a very specific and unique way of designing and making clothes, but it's also a way of viewing the world. What makes the Academy of Couture Art so distinct is how it weaves couture through all aspects of the fashion industry. If you stick only to tailoring in couture, you've most likely missed the point. 

So, what does it mean? Check it out! Le Rêve 2012 fashion show and gala by ACA tells the story of couture in perfect construction, design balance, mood of the collection, and special techniques to create magic in clothing from our graduating designers. You'll even find looks that push forward what you would expect at a department store or large retail boutiques. After all, it's about changing what we see everyday!

Be sure to see it before the press. For more on tickets visit www.CoutureShows.com 

Couture in the City: West Coast Fashion goes Haute Couture

Bright white sun on the modern mid-rises makes the greenery distinct and the couture garments elegantly bold. For a Saturday afternoon downtown Portland you can feel glamour all around.

Not many would put those two together: Portland and glamour. This is an achievement that only the two best schools of beauty could create. Academy of Couture Art, Los Angeles and Paul Mitchell the School, Portland have redefined west coast fashion and beauty which has usually tended on the side of surf wear or woodland chic.

The Fest in the Square event makes a mark in the movement of couture in the U.S. It is a movement of education in what is couture. Too often couture gets lumped into either the unobtainable wild and crazy creativity that is solely for inspiration or the occasional bows added here and there to make something look cute like Chanel.

Couture is an aesthetic. It is a sophisticated training of the eye. For fashion, it is also a method of designing and creating clothing from the highest to the lowest. Balance, proportion, line are brought out from a different perspective. Couture is where creativity meets beauty. Let's face it, not all creativity is pleasing or moving, yet all couture is artistically stimulating or attractive to the eye. That's technique.

The show in Portland was the first time Academy of Couture Art designers partnered with the talent at Paul Mitchell the School, Portland. The whole team of hair artists, models and designers where inspired to take it to the max for elegance; an experience you do not often see in mid day Portland.

“What's amazing about this experience is seeing even the models transform. Not only did the team at Paul Mitchell bring out the most sophisticated chicness in the ladies, the luxury fit garments of Academy of Couture Art had the girls experiencing a new totally view of who they are as women. You can see it in the photos.”

That said, we have to agree and let the photos speak. Cheers to the west coast woman!

Career Highlight: French Couture For Ready-to-Wear: It’s all in the Eye

Academy of Couture Art (ACA) congratulates graduate Heidi AN as she takes a bold, confident step to build her own line in NYC. 

ACA Grad Heidi AN
for Urban Outfitters

Heidi’s journey since graduation was surprisingly an easy one for career opportunities. She was placed right away as Assistant Designer in Downtown Los Angeles with a starting salary of $800 weekly.

Most people are now probably thinking, sure, that’s because of the school’s network. Well, building a name in the industry goes beyond the school. That takes skills and rich, marketable creativity.

Right after she started her first job, Heidi presented a collection that was, well, ahead of its time. It kind of surprised her company. Having been to Premiere Vision in Paris with ACA she suggested that the Head Designer visit the show in NYC which was actually scheduled just a few weeks ahead. When the Head Designer returned, Heidi was right on spot and her salary showed it. 

It didn’t take long before she was scouted by another company with immediate entry as Head Designer. This time her designs would reach Urban Outfitters and Forever 21. 

http://www.urbanoutfitters.com/urban/catalog/productdetail.jsp?id=22525695&navAction=jump&navCount

Being the best requires a lot of passion to endure the long hours, serious training to sustain creativity, eye for producing collection after collection with timeless “I’ve got to have it” quality, and a centeredness that is the sign of true leadership. 

Heidi excelled in the industry and revealed a confidence in her art that gave her platform to move forward with her message to the world. This summer Heidi moved to NYC to begin her own line. 

Academy of Couture Art congratulates you Heidi on this amazing journey and cheers you on as you transform fashion one collection at a time! 

Career Highlight: Life Moves Fast for Couture Minded Designers

Congratulations to Fashion Designer Victoria CATES (Academy of Couture Art Associate of Arts Degree in Fashion Design) winner of the 2011 Velvet Brigade Design Competition (http://www.velvetbrigade.com/design/postmodernist-babydoll-dress).

Victoria CATES moved back home to NY right after graduating with a specialized Associate Degree in Fashion Design. A bit uncertain what the future would bring in this new job market, Victoria reached out with her distinct portfolio and high energy to produce. It was only a couple of months later that she landed an internship with Nicole MILLER (NYC).

On the side, Victoria sketched; entering her design in the Velvet Brigade design competition: Postmodernist BabyDoll Dress, a sexy, sheer, little babydoll dress inspired by the band ‘Hole’ in the early 90’s.

As the votes rolled in, she announced the re-opening of her shop Gilded Cat on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/GildedCat) featuring vintage listings of cute summer stuff.

“Excellent! I’m finally getting down to business here!” She prepares for the launch of her own website with runway looks from her graduation debut at Academy of Couture Art, a course included in her degree program.

When you are born for it, highly trained professionally, and passionately productive, the doors open for much more to come. Her design will now be manufactured and sold under the Velvet Brigade competition win. One more design for the website and a name that you should watch.

Costumes and Couture: A Magical World of Design





Academy of Couture Art Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Design students Sarah KIM (Stylist/Fashion Designer) and Brenda RAMIREZ (Fashion Designer) have a behind the scenes look at the creativity and complexity of Costume Designer Philippe GUILLOTEL of Cirque Du Soleil.

In June the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Costume Council hosted a truly inspiring lecture: The Costumes of IRIS from Cirque Du Soleil: Characters by Design with Costume Designer Philippe GUILLOTEL. The Council reached out to two emerging artists of couture design mind and technique to intern for the event. Two Academy of Couture Art students were selected to be inspired by the creativity and innovation that mark the magic of the Cirque Du Soleil experience.

Costume Designer Philippe GUILLOTEL presented from sketch to fruition characters from two important Cirque Du Soleil performances: Love and IRIS. What is so inspiring about Philippe’s creative process is the juxtaposition of clothing with technological function. His designs evoke the grand and open the mind to new possibilities. The results present another world.

“His work is remarkable. What is fascinating about his costumes is the fusion of the costume with the tool that serves the role of the actor wearing it. He blends the avant-garde with retro; late 19^th century technology with a flair of a decadent futuristic world. This gives us a revolutionary futuristic vision of what could become the fashion of tomorrow with technological outfits serving the precise function of the individual client,” audience member, Thierry ÉTÉ, Academy of Couture Art.

Philippe touched on the similarities in his creative process highlighting stories of couturiers touched by his work and his atelier. John Paul GAULTIER commented on Philippe’s workshop as the ultimate couture house. In fact, as Philippe illuminates, his creative and construction process is very much in character with the couturiers’.

This July the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood premieres IRIS: A Journey Through the World of Cinema™. Costume, much like couture, pushes forward fashion and art. Come and experience a new world of cinema and design.

Academy of Couture Art emerging designers and stylists Move LA with Fashion’s Night Out

Fashion’s Night Out makes its way to Los Angeles for a second début. This year, Academy of Couture Art students partake, support, and promote the amazing design talent, retailers and huge fashion industry that have always been an integral part of Los Angeles.

The growth of LA’s Fashion’s Night Out is crucial for the (re)awakened movement of fashion to the home base of the Hollywood stars, Los Angeles. In a soon to be released interview through Academy of Couture Art, fashion magic and inspiration is illuminated with the spirit of Los Angeles.

According to the USC Stevens Institute for Innovation, “There are more artists, writers, filmmakers, actors, dancers, and musicians living and working in Los Angeles than any other city at any time in the history of civilization.” What an amazing point of reference for the major role fashion plays in this community!

Academy of Couture Art asks Parisian couturiers now in Los Angeles why it was their first choice for fashion around the world. “When I first came to Los Angeles I was really impressed by this energy, this creative energy in the city. I definitely feel like Los Angeles is the largest city where there is the largest population of artists, from around the world, than any other city of any kind in the world. And I think the fashion scene in LA has huge potential.”

“We have the fashion district which is literally amazing in diversity of fabrics, trimmings, quantity of stores, beading. This is huge. So the potential in terms of material is here. Also we have all the industries and work rooms in Los Angeles downtown that are here for production and this is very well developed. We have the whole Beverly Hills clientele for luxury, ready-to-wear. If you want to do just made-to-measure or just luxury ready-to-wear, we have a huge clientele here. We have the whole Hollywood glamour and the movie industry to promote your clothes with the red carpet. And this is very important because it is a big window; it’s a worldwide window. So, I think Los Angeles fashion has a future, huge potential, and I really believe in Los Angeles for fashion.”

Traverse these avenues of fashion expression with your best soles. It’s you, the community and artist, who make its voice heard. Mark your calendars for Los Angeles Fashion’s Night Out in collaboration with Vogue this September. The streets will overflow with high creativity, one-of-a-kind pieces, unimaginable deals, and a spirit of fashion unmatched in the world!

Academy of Couture Art Advanced Moulage receives special Parisian Haute Couture guest mentor: Guillaume Cardoso de Sousa

Pattern Designers (aka Pattern Makers and Custom Dressmakers) at Academy of Couture Art specialize in the modern techniques of construction from haute couture to mass market. Last Wednesday, January 5, 2011, Advanced Moulage (Draping) students received a special surprise for the start of their quarter. ACA Honorary Member, Guillaume Cardoso de Sousa, announces to the group that he will be mentor to the class.

Guillaume Cardoso de Sousa brings an exceptional background in Parisian haute couture. As a specialized graduate of draping from Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne he is an inspiration to those who pursue a similar journey at the U.S. Fashion Institute of Haute Couture, Academy of Couture Art. Guillaume has worked for Dior Haute Couture, Balenciaga, Kenzo and other great designers. He is currently aligned with fashion designer to the stars, Kevan Hall.

His greeting last Wednesday briefly touched on the collaborations and lectures to come with discussion on the various ways to approach pattern designing on a fitted body and the differences between fashion industries in the U.S. and Paris.

Last February 2010, Guillaume made a formal presentation to the Academy of Couture Art community about what it takes to perform with the greats as well as the difference in pursuing fashion design education in Paris where it is necessary to find a design entity sponsor for whom he could work as an apprentice for his education.

A key message, that he imparts to all aspiring and emerging designers, is displayed through his modest and respectful demeanor; to be a professional success requires dedication, punctuality, hours beyond the clock in clock out to ensure that work is done at its best, not getting involved with ego clashes, having eyes in the back of your head to learn from all, and the ability to solve problems and innovate solutions quickly.

Guillaume’s encouragement and positivity left all present full of knowledge towards a better way to think of apparel creation. Look forward to the collaborations to come.

For more information contact Academy of Couture Art at (310) 360-8888 or online atwww.academyofcoutureart.edu.

Parisian Odyssey 09

What do you feel you gained academically, and professionally from this trip?

The only way that I could answer that question, is by just emphasizing that after I had stepped onto foreign european soil, after my eyes had been in the presence of priceless, legendary, masterpieces, while walking on historic steps that echoed, across the universe...and after being swallowed up by the intoxicating parisian bright nights, under Eiffel light, made me once and for-all be awaken to the possibilities, and true capability of the potential of artistic expression in human beings. Catching myself in that moment In Paris while the world turned, surely signified my balance in it. I had now earned it. Closest I’ve ever been to a near-life experience. 

Truly holding my own at the 3 day Première-Vision international convention in Paris was something serious to me. I had be looking forward to it. Learning how to really work that giant orbiting planet, upon which countless people from all corners of the world were flocking to enter...was frightening, but immensely exciting to achieve, and decipher. A giant world infested with the finest accessories, the rarest and most innovative fabrics, pulsing with the fashion industries most ground-breaking and original ideas, avant-garde manufacturers, and artistic trend-setters and observers. 

I’ve always been told “Treat talent as a business, if your fortunate to have it... then you must master working hard to perfect that gift, as a lifetime commitment. Hard work equals success,... talent tragically is never enough”. This fruitful sort of mentality was the driving force behind all those at that convention trying to find those diamonds in the rough, and for those showing the world they were one.

That creative drive is what I desired, so I decided to capture it, and bring it back with me. New standards on how I would see the world, and how my academic, professional, and artistic success would now be judged. A personal epiphany. Making deals with legendary manufactures, and really networking to familiarize myself and learn the ropes of this business, the do’s and don’t was the key thing I learned in the professional sense there. Being present, and experiencing first hand the commitment Lesage has in his work to make sure that his production, and reputation are second to none. Enriching and inspiring to say the least. Nothing compares to the acquired knowledge that comes with experience. In lamest terms delivering, and preparing me with the necessary tools in order to carve out a path, and a name for myself in

the enormous mountain I’m still destined to conquer. The constant pursuit of my existence. There are a lot of whom depend on it. It’s surreal to think Paris, was my destiny at age 22. 

-BorisOrlando 2009