Lipscomb Fashion and Design offers students one-of-a-kind experiences

Fashion design students gain hands-on experience within the industry.

From Staff Reports  |  11/13/2023

The one-of-a-kind fashion exhibit “Dolly Parton and the Makers: My Life in Rhinestones” has the entire campus buzzing, but for Lipscomb’s fashion students, the exhibit this fall just one of the many ways (albeit quite an exciting way) that they are immersed in top-quality fashion and the big names of the fashion industry throughout the school year.

Students’ opportunities to work closely with Dolly Parton’s makers this fall, to learn from them in Fashion Week workshops and to create their own designs inspired by the global superstar are just the latest real-world learning experiences for students in the Department of Fashion and Design. From study abroad opportunities to Lipscomb’s own fashion archives, from hands-on retail experiences to on-site visits with local fashion professionals, students are surrounded by valuable opportunities to take what they’re learning in the classroom to the next level.  

Lipscomb fashion students have the chance to apply their skills and innovation in a real-world setting through the 1891 Lipscomb Fashion retail concept. The mobile retail concept is a unique boutique housed on campus and filled with students’ fashions, gifts, one-of-a-kind objects and more. Students apply the skills and concepts they’ve learned in class by working in teams for buying, planning, visual merchandising, sales and inventory.

The boutique has been on-site at various special events on campus including the annual Lipscomb Fashion Week, featuring workshops by professional designers, ambush make-overs for students and a gala highlighted by a fashion exhibit in the on-campus gallery.

Lipscomb’s entrepreneurial fashion design and merchandising majors have also been a go-to source of workers for many years for the Nashville Fashion Week, said department Chair Charlotte Poling. The citywide event allows students to engage in experiential learning and hear advice from highly successful professionals in their field. 

With Nashville’s flourishing fashion scene and Lipscomb’s close proximity to multiple retailers in the Green Hills area, the fashion department coordinates on-site visits to various designers and retailers throughout the school year, said Sissy Simmons, assistant professor.

“We have an advisory board of professionals in the community that act as a great resource for networking opportunities for the students,” said Simmons. “We can call on them when we are looking for guest speakers, student internship opportunities and connections for our New York City study trip.” 

During the trip, students study the fashion industry from a holistic perspective. By visiting design houses, luxury retailers like the flagship Nordstrom store and Bergdorf Goodman, textile designers, denim fabricators, experiential retail pop-up designers and more, students have had a wide range of experiences in their field of study. 

The department also offers the opportunity to travel to Italy, where students have attended the San Giovanni Festival in Florence, experienced the design process of Kering Eyewear’s collections for Gucci and other luxury brands and met with world renowned leaders in their fields of study. 

Students have attended Milan Design Week where fashion brands Versace, Hermés, Dolce & Gabbana Casa and others displayed their best interiors and homeware and visited the Milan headquarters for Loro Piano where they met with Beckany Kilbourne, vice president of interiors North America. 

This fall brought opportunities for students to learn directly from two of Dolly Parton’s makers: Iisha Lemming, Lipscomb visiting faculty member and Parton’s former head pattern maker and seamstress, taught students rhinestoning, Hillary Adcock, costumer, designer and seamstress, taught students tambour beading. In years past, famed Prophetik fashion designer Jeff Garner, a 1996 graduate of Lipscomb Academy, shared about sustainability in fashion and his distinctive, sustainable and eco-friendly approach to design. 

However, at any time during their college career, fashion students can learn from the works of famed American designer Halston, as an archive of his sample garments, business papers, patterns and sketches are housed on-campus at Lipscomb.

Among the student projects involving the Halston Collection, was a 2021 fashion exhibit displaying original Halston works and the student designs inspired them. In addition to being what some have called “a national treasure,” Lipscomb’s Halston collection promises to spur years of in-depth study among students in the business of fashion, change-making and market disruption.

Click here to learn more about the Lipscomb Department of Fashion & Design.