With the annual DAAP Fashion Show just around the corner, we chat with the director to see what’s new and get an exclusive preview!
The annual DAAP Fashion Show will be held April 28.
The annual DAAP Fashion Show hits the runway April 28, and this year promises to be bigger and better than ever.
So, what can one expect from this year’s show? Show director, Laurie Wilson says the show will include a 92-foot catwalk, LCD panels, along with a live DJ, over 30 runway models with original hair and makeup from Aveda Institute, hundreds of original outfits, complementary swag bags and an After Party. It’s also the 66th anniversary of the show and the 12th year Macy’s is a presenting sponsor.
This year will feature an even deeper look into the work behind the show, Wilson says. Through photo documentation, attendees will get an inside look at how hard the DAAP students have worked in the studio over the past year.
With 1,500 seats available to the public, the show always sells out, so Wilson suggests snagging your tickets quickly. Attendees have the option for VIP tickets or regular sale, which go on sale to the general public March 21. For those who can’t attend the show, or are looking to get even more immersed in the DAAP world of fashion, there is a Reality Rehearsal Experience on April 27, the night before the actual show.
Laurie Wilson, Show Director of the DAAP Fashion Show.
Attending the Reality Rehearsal Experience allows for a deeper look into the actual development of the fashion show itself, Wilson says. “Attendees will be watching the ‘inner workings’ of a run through for the show and get behind the scenes action,” she adds.
Whether attending the Rehearsal Experience, or the Fashion Show itself, both are world-class fashion events with a front row seat to the next set of great fashion designers, Wilson says.
Come celebrate the future of fashion on April 28 at UC’s Campus Recreation Center. Click here for ticket info and inside looks from previous shows.
We chat with the local woman who’s a mission to inspire Cincinnatians to think about the issues important to them and “Be the Change You Wish to See.” Read on for more.
rEVOLUTION CINCY aims to inspire Cincinnatians to be a change in their community.
Cincy Chic: Tell us about rEVOLUTION CINCY! Liz Wu, Writer and Producer of rEVOLUTION CINCY: rEVOLUTION Cincy is a movement to encourage citizens to think about the issues that are important to them, to communicate those issues, and then to take personal action. The motto: Be the Change You Wish to See.
This project is designed to start conversation about what we as residents of Greater Cincinnati and the various neighborhoods truly value – and what we wish could be improved. However, the real conversation begins when we discuss what we can actually DO about it – and then take action!
Liz Wu, Writer and Producer of rEVOLUTION CINCY.
Cincy Chic: What’s the inspiration behind the movement? Wu: rEVOLUTION Cincy is inspired by the saying, “Volunteering is the ultimate exercise in democracy. You vote in elections once a year, but when you volunteer, you vote every day about the kind of community you want to live in.” In this historic election year, we wish to spread the message that voting is of utmost importance – and there are many other ways, beyond casting a ballot in November, that we can cast our votes on a daily basis for the community we would like to create.
rEVOLUTION Cincy will involves a music video featuring local artists with a message encouraging viewers to take direct action in their neighborhoods/city by volunteering, buying locally, educating themselves on issues of importance and “walking their talk”. This video is accompanied by a website where visitors can “vote” on the top issues in their neighborhood and then learn ways in which they can directly address those concerns.
Cincy Chic: Who’s behind rEVOLUTION CINCY? Wu: rEVOLUTION Cincy was written and produced by Liz Wu, me, of Turtle and the Stone Productions. Afrochine provided audio and video production for the music video. Mark G. Celsor designed the website, with graphic design by Lauren Frederick and Joshua Moore. Support came from ArtsWave. A cast and crew of 60+ creatives came together to make this project happen, and each person that watches the video and shares the website becomes part of the movement!
Cincy Chic: What’s the mission behind the movement? Wu: The mission is to inspire people to engage within their communities and feel empowered to make a positive change in their neighborhood/city/world, in simple, practical and direct ways.
Cincy Chic: What makes rEVOLUTION CINCY unique? Wu: This project asks for more than appreciation of the art – it requests the viewer to actively engage with the website, and then with their community. It also gives links on practical ways to do that locally. It is basically a guidebook on how to catalyze positive change from an individual level. Rather than dwell on frustrations on things beyond control, this project challenges the audience to focus on making a daily impact, through voting with one’s dollar, time, actions and mind.
Cincy Chic: Where can readers find rEVOLUTION CINCY? Wu: We will be out at Findlay Market and on UC’s campus on Saturday Oct. 29, inviting the public to vote on the three most important issues in their neighborhood, and to start community conversations on how we can improve our city. We also have a challenge going on – each time you vote with your dollar, time, actions, or mind, create a hashtag and share on social media, while tagging friends and encouraging them to do the same.
Cincy Chic:Where’s the best place to go to learn more and following along with the movement? Wu: Visit www.revolutioncincy.com or like us on Facebook.
From small town Ohio to the beaches of Florida and back again, this local blogger, digital designer, vegetarian and pet lover is sharing the adventures of her life on her chic website and blog. Keep reading for all the chic and sparkly details.
Sarah Dickerson uses her blog, Chic Sprinkles, to share her life adventures.
From Design Sponge to The Everygirl, Sarah Dickerson uses her corner of the internet to share her life adventures on the blog Chic Sprinkles Design and Photography.
A dog-loving designer, Dickerson uses her blog to not only share her life’s adventures, but to share photography, design, laughter, and a look at the world from the eyes of her shih tzu Coco Bean.
“She is my muse, child, and my bff,” laughs Dickerson.
Sarah Dickerson and her shih tzu Coco Bean
“I am a designer, photographer, animal lover, plant eater, wife, and dog mom,” says Dickerson. “History fascinates me, Steve Martin makes me laugh, old white brick homes steal my heart, God is always the first and last person I talk to daily, and I will always prefer to hang out with the dog while at a party.”
That’s why when you read Dickerson’s blog, Chic Sprinkles, you’ll find that there’s a variety of topics covered, but all of them serve as a creative outlet to combine Dickerson’s passions.
Dickerson graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning with bachelor’s degree in digital design. Now, with a full-time job in corporate America, Dickerson enjoys using Chic Sprinkles as her creative outlet.
“I needed a creative outlet to design the things that I love,” she says. “Started a blog opened up a whole other door. It was challenging at first because I had no idea what I was doing, and I’m naturally a shy person. Putting myself out there was a little weird for me, but I’m so very glad I kept going. It has connected me with so many awesome people from all over the world.”
In recent years, as Chic Sprinkles has continued to grow, Dickerson has opted to do less but with more passion. She’s mainly focused on design, photography, and animals, which she has done through Pretty Fluffy and Spared.org.
In addition to Chic Sprinkles, Dickerson is also a featured writer on the website Pretty Fluffy, which features pet-friendly DIYs, animal trends, cruelty-free/organic picks, and stylized photography.
Since joining the Pretty Fluffy team in 2012, Dickerson has written plenty of feature articles as well as threw in her hand at designing a new eBook called “52 Weeks of Treats,” which she worked on with Pretty Fluffy founder Serena Faber Nelson.
“It’s a go-to book for simple and healthy dog treat recipes,” says Dickerson. “We’ve been featured in Modern Dog Magazine as well as numerous websites for our easy DIYs, eBook, and blog features. It’s been amazing, and it all started with a little blog that I thought would only last a few weeks.”
Dickerson says she and her content have been featured on The Everygirl, Modern Dog Magazine, Cesar’s Way, Dog Milk, Design Sponge.
Learn about the upcoming event that's one of the biggest fashion shows in the region with 1,500 people, a 92-foot catwalk and more than 350 individual designs.
Laurie Wilson, University of Cincinnati adjunct professor, with DAAP students.
The annually sold-out DAAPfashion show is aiming to top past shows this year with high-caliber fashion, a 92-foot catwalk and creative lighting and design from CCM.
13 product development seniors, and 36 fashion design seniors have worked tirelessly over the past months to create stunning collections to present to the Cincinnati area on April 29th. This fashion show features over 350 unique designs from students in the DAAP program.
DAAPfashion is “highly regarded as the top fashion event in the region even for the sheer magnitude of it: 1500 people, a 92-foot catwalk, 40 models, incredible lighting and an LA DJ,” says Laurie Wilson, University of Cincinnati adjunct professor. “The university sees it as a key annual event for the public to learn about our Fashion Design program, our college and the university as a whole.”
“Last year we honored the 10-year sponsorship we have with Macy’s, which is so important to the ability for us to be able to showcase our students’ work in the caliber it deserves,” Wilson says.
This 2016 fashion show will celebrate the 65th year of DAAPfashion, and the university is thrilled with the continued success that is unfortunately marked with a hint of sadness this year. “This show is dedicated to the memory of Hanna Hall, who was the Program Coordinator for Fashion Design and passed away very unexpectedly at the first of this semester,” Wilson says. “Each of the students has put a tag in their looks that says: For Hanna: Love & Details.”
The DAAPfashion show will have the underlying theme of “process” for the show that works to highlight the process of design growth and how the students develop their craft. The students are given large amounts of artistic freedom for their individual collections.
“The capstone projects featured by the seniors are begun in concept during the summer prior to their fall semester, then they do their final co-op semester in the fall, Wilson says. “They return to school in January and begin construction of their thesis.”
For the 2016 DAAPfashion show, the seniors’ collections will range from childrenswear, menswear, performance active wear, bridal lingerie, hand-knit sweaters, modern separates, creative costuming and even laser-cut leather.
“This show is truly one of the most interesting and well-constructed group of collections we have ever had the opportunity to put on our stage,” Wilson says. “This is the 18th DAAP Show I have produced, and I have to tell you that this really is an extraordinary show this year.”
Adding to the importance of this fashion show, DAAPfashion can fast-track students’ careers or grab attention from attendants of the show. “We have often heard of seniors who are contacted by professionals after the show for job opportunities,” Wilson says.
“Talented lighting and stage designers from CCM will set our stage again this year with incredible lighting and the new element of LCD panels on stage to augment the audience experience. And, of course, DJ Ruckus Roboticus will be with us again from Los Angeles to mix the show live.”
“The hundreds of designers that have come through this program have created such a legacy,” Wilson says. “Future industry professionals begin their careers on this runway. We have had two recent grads go to Project Runway AllStars! Asha Ama Daniels, will speak to our Reality Rehearsal Experience audience on Thursday, April 28th at our public show rehearsal. This is a great place for high school students to see how a show is put together, and then come back to see the final finished product on Friday night.”
Tickets are on sale, but quantities are very limited. The show sells out every year, so visit http://daap.uc.edu/daapworks/fashionshow.html or call 513.451.6191 to purchase tickets.
You’ve seen indoor herb gardens and living walls on Pinterest, and now, two local green gurus can bring them to your home or business. Click to learn more!
Urban Blooms is a non-profit that installs living installations to promote sustainability and ecology.
What do you get when you mix art, beauty, health and sustainability together? Urban Blooms.
In May 2014, Tyler Wolf and Lily Turner co-founded Urban Blooms as a 501(c)3 non-profit operating to raise capital and support for two overlapping causes: first, environmentally minded beautification projects; and secondly, education on sustainability.
Through Urban Blooms, Wolf and Turner design and create living wall gardens to promote sustainability and ecology in Cincinnati and Columbus. “We all grew up in Cincinnati, we are incredibly proud of our city and we would like to see it become the most beautiful and sustainable city in the country,” Wolf says. “There is incredible energy and investment taking place in Cincinnati recently. We are introducing a new technology to our city and by doing so, becoming a part of the urban renewal and lifestyle shift currently taking place in our city which makes our work extremely rewarding.”
The gardens are entirely customizable to fit a space and the needs of the consumer. In fact, Wolf says, by increasing oxygen and remove cancer-causing compounds, living walls improve indoor air quality and offer other health benefits such as stress reduction and increased immune function.
“Our living walls are essentially fully automated vertical hydroponic systems which utilize the latest materials and technologies, in order to offer systems which virtually take care of themselves,” Wolf says. “Physically these space age materials are light weight and extremely durable, allowing us to construct walls of any size, in almost any shape, that will last for decades. These materials are sustainably sourced through our local suppliers and our growing medium is even manufactured from recycled plastic water bottles, meaning it can be installed on walls for up-to 50 years without decomposing or needing to be replaced while also removing waste from our landfills. We offer a wide range of technologies at varying price-points, there is an option for everyone.”
For the home, Wolf says, living walls can provide 15-30% lower energy costs because the greenery contributes anywhere from a three to six degree temperature drop in a space. The air filtering ability of the greenery can also lead to a 15% lower ventilation cost for the space. Exterior living walls can purify air from cancer causing chemicals, remove 1.3 kilograms per year of harmful particulate matter for every 100 square feet of vertical wall and they can also act as an extra layer of insulation reducing heating and cooling costs by 35%.
Urban Blooms has built three living walls in Ohio thus far. Those locations include: outside Findlay Market, on The Ohio State University’s campus and inside the Cincinnati-based E+O restaurant. In addition, they will be showcasing a living wall in April at the Cincinnati Flower Show. The living wall at Findlay Market is the first outdoor living wall installation, which exists at 115 square feet. The wall took two days to install and captivated the community members who occupy the market and the surrounding areas, according to Wolf. The living wall located inside E+O stands at 18 feet wide by 8 feet tall, and includes 366 tropical plants from 22 different species. The E+O Living wall is currently the largest permanent living wall installation in the state of Ohio.
The Urban Blooms living installation at the Findlay Market.
Urban Blooms works in partnership with schools in Ohio to promote sustainability. North Avondale Montessori, Walnut Hills High School, The Ohio State University and The University of Cincinnati have all been a part in growing the ideals of horticulture, design and environmental engineering.
“We are also in talks with ‘the Eddy,’ a new co-working space opening up the old Neusole glassworks building,” Wolf says. “The mixed-use space will be hosting March madness parties this month in order to raise money for the installation. We are in talks to do another living wall at OSU and possibly our first at UC. We hope to complete at-least six new living wall projects this year, as well as continuing to grow our East End Veterans Memorial Garden and the Hilltop Community Garden in Avondale. We would like to create new relationships and partnerships in the Cincinnati Nonprofit and Arts communities.”
Urban Blooms has various volunteer opportunities including constructing community gardens or living walls, and irrigating planter boxes. Urban Blooms has a recurring volunteer opportunity every Thursday from 9-12 p.m. at the East End Veterans Memorial Garden where veterans from the Cincinnati VA participate in three hours of horticultural therapy. The nonprofit also accepts donations to assist with beautification projects, educational opportunities for Cincinnati’s youth and the building of public living wall installations.
“We believe, in just a few short years, with hard work and through some support from our partners and sponsors, we can make Cincinnati internationally-known for its living wall displays and overall sustainability,” Wolf says.
To learn more, visit www.urbanblooms.org or “like” them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/UrbanBlooms.
Learn about a local beauty mecca that encourages people to embrace a natural lifestyle by providing healthy hair and skin products.
After graduating from the University of Cincinnati with a BA in Journalism and the Art Institute of Ohio with a degree in Fashion Merchandising, Charell Frazier embarked on her entrepreneurial journey. She and Danielle Williams began working on the Honey Hut Beauty Bar Boutique in the summer of 2012, opening their doors in March of 2014.
“We wanted to create a place where men and women could embrace a natural lifestyle by providing products that encourage healthy hair and skin while also providing apparel, accessories and jewelry that bring enlightenment about multiculturalism,” explains Frazier. Multiculturalism is the co-existence of diverse cultures. The two noticed Cincinnati lacked a major beauty company that focused on this blending of cultures and decided to make a change. “There wasn’t a place like this anywhere in the tri-state area, and we felt there was a need for a place like ours,” Frazier says.
The Honey Hut thrives on being unique, right down to the very products they sell. “Our company is different from other beauty brands because we bring our consumers products that you wouldn’t be able to find while doing your daily shopping. We source products from all over and they are all natural, organic and handmade,” Frazier states. With all natural products, the Honey Hut encourages people to embrace a simpler lifestyle that can’t be obtained through more mainstream products. Many of their products are also made locally, which is a big selling point for people in the Tri-State area.
“We help people embrace their natural lifestyle by exposing them to nature’s finest ingredients, and by helping them to understand why those things are beneficial for their skin. If you’re going to embrace being vegetarian, vegan, organic, and holistic for the betterment of your body internally, then you should do so externally as well,” Frazier claims. The Honey Hut works to provide quality products for people who are looking to make a healthier change in their lives on the surface.
The Honey Hut carries a multitude of soaps, body butters, and other hair and skin care products. In addition to those, they also sell handcrafted accessories, incense, and vintage clothing, all of which help people go one step further in feeling great about what is on their body.
On the topic of multiculturalism in the beauty industry, Frazier says, “One cannot exist without the other. So many of the great ingredients, jewels, gemstones, designs, etc. come from other diverse cultures and it is embracing multiculturalism that allows everything to come together to create one amazing product. For example, a butter from Ghana, oil from Morocco, and a scent from Egypt all come together to create an amazing body butter.” The combination of cultures brings their products to life.
To learn more about the Honey Hut Beauty Bar Boutique, visit their website.
UC/DAAP Librarian & Instructor of popular UC/DAAP School of Design course, FASH2099c Documenting a Fashion Icon: The University of Cincinnati's Bonnie Cashin Collection, receives $40,000 grant from The Bonnie Cashin Foundation in New York City.
Illustration by Adam Hayes
FASH2099c Documenting a Fashion Icon is not just a class at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, but an immersive, “transdisciplinary” collaborative studio where students learn from experience about American cultural artifacts, the important work done by people who steward historical collections (such as librarians, curators and conservators) and the significance and educational mission of cultural heritage organizations such as libraries and museums.
FASH2099c teaches students about cultural heritage through the study, handling and documentation of a collection of historical garments designed by Bonnie Cashin (1915-2000), a prominent designer at the height of her design career in the mid 20th-century, who is most well-known for her functional, modernist style, her pioneering contributions to American sportswear and for ushering in Coach’s first line of women’s leather accessories. UC’s collection of Cashin garments came to Cincinnati in the 1980s, when the former Head of the Fashion Department at the Ohio State University offered the former Head of the Fashion Department at UC/School of Design the collection of approximately 200 garments, an offshoot of a much larger collection originally gifted to OSU by Phillip Sills (1920-1988). Sills, a long-time artistic collaborator and leather manufacturer of Cashin’s ready-to-wear line (produced from 1952 through the late 1970s), was aware of the potential research value of his archive, so in the late 1980’s, he bequeathed his archive of garments to OSU, who later named a hall of American cultural artifacts for Sills. There is no known documentation about why the 200 garments were offered by OSU, but it’s safe to assume that the gift from Sills to OSU was so large that OSU had to make some hard decisions about which to accession and which to offer to another institution of higher education with a prominent fashion design program.
Fast forward to 2012 when DAAP Administration approached Jennifer Krivickas, Head of the Robert A. Deshon & Karl J. Schlachter Library for Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, regarding collaborating with them to properly assess, house, accession and steward the collection. After several meetings with DAAP administrators, DAAP Fashion faculty and costume and textile experts, Krivickas wrote a proposal for a UC Forward Grant to support proper stewardship of the collection and also, launch the popular FASH2099c: Documenting a Fashion Icon course.
Since the course’s beginning in 2013, “Documenting a Fashion Icon: Bonnie Cashin” has enhanced the learning experience for DAAP and non-DAAP students and non-UC individuals interested in fashion, Bonnie Cashin and American cultural heritage. This past spring semester, the class worked closely with the Cincinnati Art Museum Chief Curator and Curator of Costume and Textiles Cythnia Amneus to put on a pop-up (one-night only) fashion exhibition on at the Cincinnati Art Museum, on top of Amneus’ popular, “The Total Look: Rudi Gernreich and American Design” exhibition.
Students in the class were assisted by former FASH2099c student, Adam Hayes, who first took the FASH2099c in fall 2014. The following semester, Hayes, being keen on fashion, textiles and curatorial work, worked with Krivickas on an independent study through which he was able to examine and work with the Cashin collection more closely.
Hayes, whose career interests parallel that which is taught in the course, has become a sort of unofficial research associate and junior curator/steward of the Cashin collection. The work he does includes documenting the collection, collection care, labeling, digitizing the collection, public relations work, research, writing, metadata and more and all while still balancing his 18 credit hours.
“It feels like I’m not just in the [art, fashion, curatorial] world, but I’m a part of it,” says Hayes when talking about the work which he is truly passionate. “Through taking this course, and working closely with Jen and the collection, I’ve learned what I really want to do with my life—being a curator, documentarian, historian and steward of historical costumes and textiles.”
Hayes has gained and exhibited so much relatable knowledge, passion and skills for this type of work that his mentor and professor Krivickas recommended he reach out to Professor Dean Mogle of UC’s College Conservatory of Music costume collection to see if they might be interested in doing something similar to what Hayes has done with the Cashin collection, beginning with their Italo Tajo costume collection.
All of this good work has received much well-deserved press, including an article in the Internationally regarded Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), which Head of Communications in the provost’s office Elissa Yancy offered her delight. Yancy quickly worked up an article about the course, the project and all of the press it was receiving and published it in UC Currents as well as on the UC Provost website. It was this article that caught the attention of Lucia Kellar and David Baum, Trustees of the Bonnie Cashin Foundation in New York City.
Upon learning more about the work Krivickas and her students had done with the collection to-date, the course, the exhibits and the internal grants the project received from UC Forward, Kellar and Baum decided to grant the Cashin project $40,000, naming Krivickas as the primary investigator. This 2-year, $40,000 grant will be used to continue documenting, preserving (both digitally and physically) and increasing access and awareness of the collection.
Also, the fund will be used to pay Adam Hayes, who is serving as research associate to Krivickas, who is currently spending most of his time researching major grants, including federal grants such as those from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Education Association and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The grant will support a major collaborative digitization project with OSU aimed at reunification of the disparate Cashin collections at UC and OSU, to create one free and globally accessible, web-based research resource.
Since receiving the $40,000 grant, Hayes was able to meet Kellar and Baum, Trustees of the Bonnie Cashin Foundation, during a recent visit to New York. “They were kind enough to meet with me during my visit this past summer to New York and it was an honor to meet with them in person, to speak about Bonnie Cashin, and to gain their trust and blessings before moving forward with the projects regarding the UC Cashin collection,” he says.
“I’m so grateful for my parents instilling in me a profound work ethic, without which I wouldn’t be where I am today,” explains Hayes. He goes on to thank Krivickas, his mentor and professor, without whom he says, he would not have been given this opportunity of a lifetime, which will propel his knowledge and opportunities in the future.
FASH2099c: Documenting a Fashion Icon: The UC Bonnie Cashin Collection is still available for enrollment! If you are interested, check out the course website which has plenty of information about the course, images and information about Bonnie Cashin.
You can also email Jennifer Krivickas directly at Jennifer.krivickas@uc.edu if you should want to make an appointment to see the collection, take the course or engage with the project in any other way.
Hayes adds, “It can be powerful thing, telling a story through fashion, because fashion is an art form that is attainable to all people”.
