Despite a looming paper deadline and an early morning lecture, Ethan Lipsitz, then a Penn sophomore, threaded the eye of his sewing machine and set off to work on a navy cotton hoodie. Scraps of colorful vintage fabric - gems scoured from Philadelphia's Fabric Row - gathered in heaps around him. One of his housemates fingered the cloth pieces and selected a handful. Lipsitz had agreed to make him one of his individualized appliqued sweatshirts.
"What do you want?" Ethan asked his friend.
"Just make it sweet."
Flash forward five years. Lipsitz, C'03, now heads up his own dynamic clothing business in Los Angeles called Apliiq.
He stays true to the customized and creative processes of his initial works - the company name itself serves as a testament to his designs, which feature fabrics that are stitched to a base piece in a funky applique style. "Apliiq is about mobilizing beyond just fashion," he said. "It's about turning certain principles of creativity and individual expression into wearable art."
Lipsitz first discovered his creative passion while at Penn. Although an urban studies major, he says he had long had a personal fascination with functional art, such as furniture and architecture, which eventually led him to discover fashion design. What started out as his creative outlet soon evolved into a popular word-of-mouth operation - known originally as "Delph"- running out of his off-campus house by the end of his senior year. "Even though there were a ton of creative people at Penn doing things behind-the-scenes, I wanted the opportunity to produce in a more formal setting," he said.
He acknowledges that his Penn education has helped him succeed in the highly competitive fashion industry. His coursework, ranging from art history to urban studies classes on product design and industrial reuse, gave him the experience and the confidence to start his own creative business. Now, he not only sells his designs from his website but also through several stores that have picked up his label. And as part of an effort to expand the brand and increase marketing efforts, Apliiq is planning to throw a promotional party in Brooklyn this winter.
With its Wharton suits and nursing scrubs, Penn may not seem like a haute milieu for fashion design. But Lipsitz is not the only one who has found success. The recent alum joins the ranks of Penn graduates thriving in the fashion world, including Tory Burch, C'88, of her eponymous line of medallioned flats and colorful tunics, and Stacey Bendet, C'99, and Rebecca Matchett, C'98, who co-founded the line alice + olivia. Their accomplishments have played a large part in spotlighting Penn as a player in the fashion industry.
Opportunities for students to test out their design ideas on Penn's campus have grown over the years. The organization Dzine2Show, which was started in 2003, has emerged as the primary forum for Penn students interested in fashion and retail. The student-run group, working closely with the Wharton Retail Initiative, routinely brings in speakers from across the industry. Members have gone on to work for companies like Vogue and Ralph Lauren, and designs from student collections have been featured in the publications Business Week and WWD. Dzine2Show co-president and College senior Dani Djokic describes the group as "the only outlet [where] people interested in fashion - whether modeling, photography or fashion design - can go to and actually feel comfortable." Essentially, Dzine2Show serves as a network for those who may not want to work as independently as Lipsitz did.
Take, for example, College junior Zachary Sergi. After arriving at Penn without any previous experience in fashion, Sergi is now the director of fashion shows for Dzine2Show and boasts two collections of his own. Planning his next move, he said he hopes to incorporate corseted overalls and symmetrical sweater vests into his upcoming collection, describing his pieces as everyday garments with an extra touch of panache. "Fashion is something I've always been interested in," he said. "Dzine2Show gave me the resources and confidence to tackle the process of designing my own line." But the English major said he considers his involvement in fashion as more of a creative outlet and hobby than a career path. "However," he said with a grin, "if something falls into my lap, of course it is something I've always wanted to pursue."
He also emphasizes that students don't have to design their own apparel to be part of the Penn fashion scene. Just wearing clothing can be a form of personal expression, too. "Everyone actually does make an effort," Sergi said of Penn students. "There is, on the whole, a kind of fashion conscious[ness]."
Unlike Sergi, Djokic showed up at Penn with professional sewing and design experience and envisions a future in the fashion industry. Taking on fashion design as an independent study in high school, she was able to plan and present a unique collection in a self-directed fashion show. As a freshman at Penn, Djokic quickly became involved in Dzine2Show, and within a year, she managed to score a summer internship in Paris with design powerhouse Christian Dior.
Since she comes from a family of fashion entrepreneurs, Djokic's pursuit of a career in the industry seems natural. But she says that her experiences at Penn have influenced her perspective on fashion and that she no longer sees design as a purely artistic enterprise. She has realized instead that "every good designer has an even better business partner behind them." Although Djokic has already established her own small design business, the line Dani Djokic, her plans are on hold until she graduates and can find a financial backer. In the meantime, she is working on a smaller, more pre-professional collection that includes feminine tailored suits. She maintains her signature look by highlighting the female silhouette and including an array of quality silk fabrics in her garment construction.
And while she does design the occasional piece for her friends, she admits that it's hard to make a profit when charging so little for her custom-designed items. But that doesn't mean she has stopped dreaming big. "Almost every designer hopes to ultimately own and produce their own line," she said. "I know I would not want to work for a fashion house that constrained my personal style or forced me to conform to their look."
For the many students who have not yet found their personal "look," Dzine2Show encourages them to flesh out their artistic vision. As the group's design coordinator, College junior Jeana Kolson helps students do just that. Much like Tim Gunn does on the Bravo show Project Runway, Kolson gives advice on garment construction to design novices. Her job ranges from producing a fabric guide for beginners to running workshops to leading excursions to New York, where designers pick out the fabrics for their collections. Working with over 15 students this fall, Kolson has provided feedback in terms of design, fabric choice and wearability to prepare them to present cohesive collections. And while some members outsource the construction of their garments to professional tailors, an increasing number are doing the handiwork themselves.
Dzine2Show plans to have designers showcase their months of hard work at their annual fall fashion show on Nov. 21. Themed "The Art of Fashion," student models will take to the catwalk wearing each of the designer's collections. All of the student designers called this final showcase - and the audience reactions that come along with it - the crowning moment of the entire experience. "We may not be technically trained," Kolson admits. "But we almost always manage to pull together something very professional-looking."
To get this feeling of accomplishment, it is important for students to take risks, says designer Jonathan Mervis, C'04. While at Penn, Mervis designed a tongue-in-cheek "Sober" shirt for Spring Fling that turned out to be a hit. Inspired by the shirt's success, Mervis, with the help of a friend, started his own line of offbeat humor tees. They named their line Crooked Monkey in hopes of creating a brand that epitomized the stereotypical college experience.
Even though his friends thought he was crazy, Mervis turned down a job offer from a pharmaceutical consulting firm to take the path less traveled. He opted to pursue clothing design via Crooked Monkey. "One night I had this epiphany," he said. "I didn't want to increase doctor prescriptions or sell more allergy medicine. It was one of those 'I'm young and the world is my oyster' moments."
The risk paid off. As Crooked Monkey became more popular, Mervis went from making dorm-to-dorm shirt sales before football games to dealing with retail giants such as Nordstrom, Lord & Taylor and Urban Outfitters. His designs have been featured in publications from Seventeen to GQ. Mervis has since sold Crooked Monkey to his partner and childhood friend Micha Weinblatt and moved on to higher fashion, working as a consultant for Tacori diamond jewelry.
Some student designers look to successful Penn graduates as examples of how campus fashion experience can be translated to the industry at large. Kolson says she was initially inspired by her older sister Brigette, C'08, who is now pursuing a career in design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Brigette discovered her passion in fashion design through her experiences with Dzine2Show, after arriving at Penn with intentions of being pre-med. As she moved from Dzine2Show to F.I.T., Brigette said that she refined her signature "Burberry meets Ralph Lauren" look. "I wouldn't trade my experience for anything" she said. "Being at Penn helped me develop my aesthetic. I would not have been ready to pursue fashion without that experience and opportunity to develop my portfolio and skills in terms of designing and sewing"
