2017 SMU Fashion Week, April 19-21
Free event features fashion industry panel discussion, magazine launch party and fashion show.
DALLAS (SMU) – SMU arts and business students will present the sixth annual SMU Fashion Week, April 19-21. The event will feature a panel discussion with fashion industry representatives, a launch party for the second issue of SMU’s fashion magazine and a spring fashion show. Begun in 2012 and produced primarily by students interested in careers within the trillion-dollar international fashion industry, SMU Fashion Week has grown along with the nearly six-year-old fashion media program, part of the Division of Journalism at SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts.
Fashion Week events, all of which are free and open to the public, are as follows:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19: Fashion Industry Panel Discussion
Five panelists representing different segments of the fashion industry, including four alumni, will discuss the ways fashion and fashion media have evolved since SMU’s first Fashion Week in 2012. Panelists include Courtney Kerr, fashion blogger and influencer; Nicole Musselman ’92, fashion designer and founder of the KOCH clothing brand; Meg Jones ’12, co-founder of the online brand To & From Gifts; Shelby Foster ’13, public relations manager at NorthPark Center; and Grace Davis Damrill ’12, associate beauty buyer for Forty Five Ten. Jones, Foster and Damrill founded SMU Fashion Week in 2012.
Details: Panel 5-6:30 p.m.; reception 6:30-7 p.m. in the Taubman Atrium of the Owen Arts Center, 6101 Bishop Blvd. on the SMU campus (Dallas 75205)
Panelists
Shelby Foster is a Dallas-based media relations professional and spokesperson, with a focus on retail and fashion. She graduated from SMU with a B.A. in journalism in 2013, and is now the public relations manager for NorthPark Center and a social media consultant for GRIT Fitness. Shelby is an active member of the Junior League of Dallas and Public Relations Society of America. On the weekends, she enjoys going to dance classes, reading beauty blogs, and taking quick trips to the Texas coast with family.
Grace Davis Damrill is a 2012 graduate of SMU and the founder of SMU Fashion Week. She joined Neiman Marcus in 2013 as an assistant buyer and was awarded Assistant Buyer of the Year in 2015. Most recently, Grace was a beauty sales manager at Neiman Marcus NorthPark - the top beauty department in the company. Currently, she is the associate beauty buyer for Forty Five Ten.
Meg Jones is a 2012 graduate of the SMU Meadows School’s Fashion Media Program and one of the founding members of SMU Fashion Week. Meg spent four years in fashion affiliate marketing at rewardStyle as the product marketing manager for LIKEtoKNOW.it. Meg and her business partner, a fellow SMU graduate, recently launched To & From, a custom gift design service specializing in corporate and wedding gifting.
THURSDAY, APRIL 20: Magazine Launch Party
Fashion media students host a party to launch the second edition of SMU Look: Hilltop Fashion & Style, the student-produced fashion magazine.
Details: 6:30 p.m. at The Impeccable Pig boutique, 6607 Hillcrest Ave., Suite 100 (Dallas 75205)
FRIDAY, APRIL 21: Spring Fashion Show
The Retail Club at Cox School of Business will present their annual spring fashion show. This year’s show will feature fashions presented by NorthPark Center. The event will also include a raffle.
Details: 2 p.m. at the fountain outside Dallas Hall, 3225 University Blvd. on the SMU campus. The show will be on the lawn of the main quad outside Dallas Hall.
PARKING AND MORE INFORMATION
Public parking is available at the Binkley Parking Garage at the corner of Binkley Avenue and Airline Road on the SMU campus. For parking details, please visit: https://www.smu.edu/AboutSMU/Maps/Parking.
For more information, contact Camille Kraeplin, director of the fashion media program in the Meadows School Division of Journalism, at 214-768-3431 or kraeplin@smu.edu.
ABOUT THE FASHION MEDIA PROGRAM
SMU’s Fashion Media program prepares students to enter the growing field of fashion media, an increasingly significant segment of the trillion-dollar international fashion industry. Fashion media careers include opportunities in journalism, blogging, social media, public relations and event planning, styling and fashion photography.
The fashion world has embraced social media, creating jobs for young media students with this skill set, while the rapid growth of fashion blogging has added another dimension to traditional fashion media formats. SMU’s Fashion Media program equips students with solid writing and critical thinking skills as well as the high-demand digital media skills that will make them competitive in today’s job market. Core fashion coursework emphasizes specialized study in fashion history and design theory as well as the economics of the fashion industry.
The Fashion Media program is housed in SMU’s Division of Journalism and comprises 37 hours of coursework. The majority of Fashion Media courses are taught in Meadows divisions including Journalism, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Advertising, Film & Media Arts, Art (Photography), and Art History.
Dallas’ profile as a fashion center offers a rich laboratory in which SMU’s Fashion Media students can sharpen their skills. Many Fashion Media majors enjoy internships in Dallas and in other major markets. Students must declare as a Fashion Media major before they will be allowed to complete an internship that counts toward the 120 academic hours needed for completion of the SMU degree. All internships are taken on a Pass/Fail basis only.
To enter the Fashion Media program, students must first gain admission to the University. Additional requirements for the major include a combined minimum G.P.A. of 3.0 (B or higher) in DISC 1312 and DISC 1313.
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