In this episode, Matt and Lee meet with the team behind RUNWAY, Lasell's annual Fashion show, where Fashion students design for, build, market, and essentially prepare an entire fashion show, both virtually and live. Matt and Lee meet up with...

Richard Bath, interim dean of School of Fashion and professor emeritus at Lasell University;
Lynn Blake, program chair of Fashion, Design and production at Lasell University; and
Kristin Kinsky, Assistant Professor of Fashion

Audio Podcast

Related Resources

LASELL FASHION SHOW: RUNWAY

Past Fashion Shows by Year

Text Transcript

Heidi Burgiel: Welcome back to the teaching and learning at Lasell podcast with Matt and Heidi from the TLC.

Matt Boyle: Welcome back, everybody. For this podcast episode, we're talking with Richard Bath, interim dean of School of Fashion and professor emeritus at Lasell University. Also speaking Lynn Blake, program chair of Fashion, Design and production at Lasell University. And Kristin Kinsky, Assistant Professor of Fashion. Finally, Lee Means joins me today to fill in for Heidi and co-facilitate this discussion.

Welcome everybody.

Richard Bath: Thank you.

Lynn Blake: Thank you.

Kristin Kinsky: Thank you.

Lee: Welcome.

How did Runway get started at Lasell?

Matt: So today we're talking about runway and the fashion show and the connected learning associated with it here at Lasell. So I guess we'll get started by talking a little bit about the origins of that. How did Runway get started at Lasell?

Richard: I mean, it started way back. I mean, the fashion program itself was really established in 1936, but I turned it over to the students in 1989. That's when the fashion show became a student run operation because I felt that the only way to be to have a successful show and to teach our students the idea of putting something together an event like this and to showcase it.

So the first student run show was in the spring of 1989. And then and it was held in Winslow Auditorium. And at the time in Winslow Auditorium, was a combination of a theater and a basketball court. So that's where we played all of our basketball games. So if you go into Winslow and just in front of the West, all those classrooms that you see behind the auditorium was a gymnasium. And that's where we played the varsity basketball games. That was the first site of the runway show. We just called it Lasell Fashion Show at that time, we changed it later. So that's how that's how it got started. And we never we've never looked back.

And it's, you know, from the first show, we had 100 people to attend. And then I think, Lynn, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I think we got really way up there as high as about 1600 people over a two night period. So I can remember ordering 800 chairs and so it would be 800 the night before, the second night in September, but there was always standing room, so I don't know. We could've had 30000. Who knows. It wouldn't be the first time we went against the fire laws.

Do you have pictures from the original? We have video.

Lynn: There are pictures from from 90's, I think I found 90s, as far back as 90s. But as I said, the, you know, fashion design program actually was part of the domestic skills development at Lasell. What us old folk used to call home economics, and they had fashion shows. Again, part of the archives, if you go into the archives, you can see some fashion shows from the 20s.

Now, of course, they weren't in a runway format. They were more installations with live models. But the design program goes back even further than the formalization of the fashion program, which was in 1936, I believe.

Richard: Yup.

What’s New in Recent Years?

Lee: What's new in recent years? What are some highlights?

Richard: Well, do you guys want to take that on to? I mean, you've got to be really incredible. I mean. Well, we went from...actually we went from getting clothing from stores to having the fashion design students put their their stuff, their collections, on the runway. Some of the things that we used to do, we used to build sets. We used to have a set design course in which our students would go into DeWitt Hall. They would build the set, and then they would carry the sets over to the gymnasium. When we moved it to the gym and set it up there, and then people would come in with the runway and then we did lighting and electronics and everything else.

But Lynn over the past couple of years has really changed it and gone into real high tech, and which really has taken it to a new level.

Lynn: You know. So our hand was a little forced in that COVID kind of produced a situation where we went a year without anything. 2020, And we only, we, we ended up switching over to digital, to virtual, to video editing and creation. And, and that's what we did last year. Last year, the show was virtual only, and then come around back to this year. Now we're offering both because we have no idea where we're headed even now. Today, I was reading about another surge happening. So, Kristin?

Kristin: Yeah. Well, I'm fairly new to the runway family being a part of it or being the coordinator for the fashion show. So when I first started to do this in 2020, we got through March and then didn't have a show last year, Lynn just said we were totally virtual, so it was all new. So the students were amazing. They did things they had never done before. We, we took, you know, what the designers gave us, and the students from the class last semester created videos, and we put together a virtual show, which was amazing. We did more with social than I think we had ever done before. We did behind the scenes. We did everything we could possibly do to celebrate the designers and to use all the skills that were in the classroom. I think it was a huge success.

And then this year, we all, of course, were super excited about being back live and in-person, and the students really, really wanted this. But there was no way we could leave behind what we created last year because it felt like such an important piece for the portfolios for the design students, and it was also a really great challenge for the students in our class. I think prior to last year, it was a very hands on kind of a course, and that's what the students did. Last year became more sitting at your desk hands on, maybe creating and editing these videos and doing that kind of work and branding, And now this year, we're bringing it all together. So this year seems new once again because we will do all of those virtual pieces with the videos, the branding work, the graphic design work that the students have been doing.

And we're also going to put on a live show. So the students are taking on multiple roles and basically, in my opinion, doing four shows in two nights. So it's all new.

Skills practiced and learned through RUNWAY

Matt: Sounds like it's very expansive, like there's a lot of technology skills that are needed now and more social media marketing skills that are needed, all associated with that too as well.

Kristin: Yeah.

Matt: It's interesting because when I think of a fashion show, I would think of it being a very kinesthetic, hands-on experience, which would involve just working with the actual fabric. But it's not my field. So I have that initial reaction, but it seems like it's a much, much bigger experience for it to be a successful event.

Richard: Dealing with the fabric and designing their clothes. But you also get the idea of where the merchandising and media and marketing students will, you know, do a model selection. You'll do fittings. They'll set up the back of the house to get the clothing ready. They'll do the model changes, they'll they do the spiels up, up front, so they do the commentary. They -- and so it's all about; it is hands on, but it's about communications and public speaking and doing all of this that, once once they get out into the industry, they will have a pretty decent background when if and when they ever do something like that again, but I think the most important thing is teamwork, and I think they connect it to what the industry really does.

So I mean, if you ever went backstage to watch our students, I mean, it's very similar to what they do in the industry. In fact, it's like for real. So...and I think it's important that they they do that. So...and they've done an incredible job. I don't think we've ever had a bad fashion show, ever.

Lynn: Whoo [laughs].

Kristin: Now I'm scared!

Matt: Pressure’s on, 😊

Lee: How long does it take to, how long does it to start working on each...When do you start working on each runway?

Lynn: September 1st.

Lee: And that's when you start involving the students on September 1st?

Lynn: No, the students get involved a little bit later on in the process, but we have to we have to lay the groundwork for what we're doing in order to direct them. So from my end, designers, we start to loop students in, you know, towards the end of the first semester. And then, of course, the course itself. The event production course launches in January. So then we're really hit the ground running. But there's a lot of behind-the-scenes work, particularly in this new environment that happens before that.

But I think to add to what Richard was saying, that the nice thing about the show and connected learning if you will, is that, you know, the market has changed so much. The consumer is now in charge, and it's really gone from "What's trendy?" to "Storytelling."

And, and that's really this whole new video approach to presenting work works just beautifully into, into telling a story for a designer. Speaking from the designer's perspective, so and, and, it also kind of forces our hand to really offer up some contemporary skills that are going to be very much needed as they move into their career fields. So the whole thing has been a win-win. Not, not without a lot of sweat and tears and fear and sleepless nights. But we definitely chose the right track last year, and I think we're definitely on the right track this year. The students pushed back a little bit because they're really wanting the live show so badly, but the virtual show is equally important for a whole other reason.

Kristin: I think the Class too is really amazing that it lets the merchandising students and the media and marketing students figure out what kind of skills they really have. Because we do keep putting it, at least I do keep putting it back on the students. “Well, what are we going to do about this? How are we going to make this work? What are we doing?” And they are able to kind of step up and be leaders. We have a couple of leadership roles. And it's really pretty impressive who steps up and how much they take on.

And with this new way that we're doing it, and where it's not just a physical show, but this other side of it, the communication and media students, there's a few students that are really strong with the videos and creating this great content, and they're helping the other students. So it's a great experience. So different teams working; everyone's kind of getting their hands into everything and trying things, but really being able to bring their strengths up to the surface and giving them a chance to really shine.

Richard: Another aspect, another aspect of this is they put together the program, the tickets. They run the front of the house. You've got a a manager who takes care of people coming in to be seated. You've got basically a construction team that will work with a floor plan and set up all the chairs and help set up the runway and work with the professionals that we bring in. And so, they get introduced the things that they wouldn't normally, normally get introduced to.

I remember one parent saying to me years ago, he said, "You taught my daughter how to use a circular saw." Yeah, well, yeah, we did. We did. And a hammer and a screwdriver and a drill and all of this other stuff. And so at any given time, you could have walked into DeWitt hall and you would have seen a construction site. As Lynn, you know, said, perfectly said that the market changes so we've got to change with the market, and that's what we're doing. I think they've done a, they've done a great job. So, and I'm anxious to see this show. So I think it's going to be terrific.

And you know, we've come a long way since Kristin Kinsky managed the show back in 1993. [laughs]

I had to get it in Kristin! I'm sorry!

Kristin: That’s OK

Richard: Don't edit that out. Because that's important. Kristin was one of these incredible young women that we sort of trained and help them to, to really shine, and that's exactly what she did when she was an undergrad here. So I'm very proud of that because she was one of my favorite students of all time.

Matt: Nice, so it's a very full circle experience for yourself Kristin.

Richard: Yup, Yup.

Kristin: Absolutely, absolutely.

Yeah. I think other newness that's happening this semester, and even last semester actually, we're starting to branch out a tiny bit. So last semester we had a fashion student who was doing an event management minor, and she was a student who wanted to do a little extra. So we had her come in, and she kind of helped me to do a lot of the event management part. So we gave the experience there. This semester...where, we reached out to a communications student who is loving all things production and videos, and we're helping to build his resume a little bit too.

So I think that's kind of fun and different, and the students are learning new skills within the fashion curriculum that they're putting to the test here. So it keeps evolving, just like industry keeps evolving. And yeah, this year will actually even look a little different, too. So I don't know if we want to give too much away, but it will actually look different than it has in the past.

Richard: No secrets, no secrets. No. Keep the secrets I meant; don't give it away, :)

Matt: As much as you'd like to give. We would love to show sneak previews of things. But, you know, we don't want to tread on toes further than we should. But yeah, I think you've gone over a number of the questions already because we've been talking about connected learning, about industry connections, and cross-disciplinary work. Those are our next three questions basically in the list. And it's a fascinating description you've made so far because you've described this sort of

holistic experience of embedding students within all the skills they would need within fashion, from design to marketing to more, but also to other skills that they will be learning, like critical thinking, leadership, teamwork, and apparently construction too as well. And a number of other ones too as well that I didn't even think about.

Fashion in Virtual Spaces

Matt: Like, for instance, the digital presentation of...You were talking about how the show happens both virtually and physically. Can you talk a little bit more about what it would look like in the virtual space? Because I can imagine and have seen videos of the runway show in person, I can imagine that. But the the virtual space I'm a little bit less familiar with.

Kristin: Yeah. What we did last year, which we will do again today or this year, is we had...all of the design students created some little video clips and sent up some pictures. The students in the fashion production show course worked with these videos, editing them, and maybe adding the music, adding some slides to it. And then between Lynn and myself and marketing, we put them on a page on Lasell University website so people could actually go in. See an introduction video from Lynn, from Kathleen at the time, from one of our students welcoming everyone for both nights of the show. And then they could go in and look at the videos by scene as if they were watching a fashion show, one person at a time. And so they could see all of the look. And it was pretty amazing what we did there.

And then this year, we will take it to a whole new level, and we will add a livestream element to our show for the first time. So we're really excited about that, too. Lynn, what did I forget about the virtual?

Lynn: The livestream will happen at the real, at the in-time show, at the face-to-face show. So what we'll do is we'll launch the virtual show at six o'clock, and then at seven pm, we will launch the live show, and at the live show we will have livestream. So anyone who cannot come to the fashion show can still enjoy to see all the garments and then be, between six and seven, and then hop on the livestream at 7:00 and watch wherever they're located.

And also, of course, we will have hopefully a very large in-house audience in person audience as well. And at that show, you know, that will be a live presentation. Some of the videos will be used, so we are crossing them, merging them together a little bit, and using them in the live show showing some, we will have a jumbotron, so we will be projecting some of the videos and some images to make the live show exciting as well.

It will be, um, we're not doing in a nod to sustainability and also just to industry and trend, we're not going to print programs this time, but instead we will have QR codes and people will be able to look at the program on the Lasell University website. So the hope there is that the two worlds will kind of blend when they're in the athletic center, where they can look at this code, go on and see the programs. But they'll also be able to look at the virtual part of the show. If they get there an hour early and they're sitting there, they'll be able to look at the actual garments and see details because they'll be able to see close up and get an idea of what they're going to see.

Because once the runway starts, it's pretty quick. It's exciting. You think, "OK, that's great!" But you don't always get a super close up view, although this year you will get a pretty close up view, in-person. But it'll I think it's kind of cool that the two worlds will just kind of work together to really support getting to see the detail and take your time and looking at something, and then also have the excitement of the livestream or being there in person where we can dim the lights and have some fun.

Matt: Very cool.

Lynn: And in regards to the cross-disciplinary, we work very closely with the graphic design department and with the communications, the school of Communications. Of course, in, in learning all this new technology and different modes of presentation, they've been really, really super helpful in aiding us and guiding us through thinking through things we wouldn't, we wouldn't think of because it's not our discipline. So it has been a very strong cross-disciplinary experience for us in the last couple of years.

What does it take to create a collection?

Lee: Speaking as a non-fashion designer, what is a collection, and how long does it take a student to create a collection?

Lynn: A collection is a group of garments -- in our case, seven -- that tells a story. It tells a story of who's wearing it, where they're wearing it, when they're wearing it, and the pieces all work together to support whatever it is the student is trying to say. A message they're trying to convey.

So the seniors are invited to tap deeply into their souls, to come up with a theme that they can live with for an academic year. So the course for the capstone is a year long process. They start in September. The first semester is about development and starting the collection, and then the second half is the production, the final production of it. So they do two garmen -- three garments in the fall, and they do four garments in the spring, along with organizing themselves for a show.

So, to give an example, a student may have a theme of their heritage. So the garments would be inspired by whatever parts of their heritage they really tap into and have a deep connection with. It could be the music, it could be the food, it could be the color, the architecture, the environment, the whatever it is, they tap into that, and then they create a series of seven garments that interact with each other, but also can stand very much on their own.

Does that help?

Lee: Thank you.

Lynn: Okay.

Matt: Well, thank you.

Connections to Industry

Matt: Do you think there are any connected learning activities or connections with industry professionals or other cross-disciplinary projects that you haven't yet already discussed that you think would also be useful to spotlight?

Lynn: Well, the industry connection, I had -- to speak for the seniors because that's mostly what what I teach, we do four different evaluations for the seniors. The first one is done in-house, and that's where everyone comes together to look at their themes, their inspirations, and their work, and how they're expressing it, and does it make sense? So that's the first thing that they get feedback on.

And then when they come back in January, by then, their collection is really in the very beginning stages, so it's a good time to bring industry in. So what we do is we have them set up a digital formatted portfolio that's then emailed out to a rather large list of people that will go through their portfolio. And they're asked three directed questions so that students get written feedback. It's all blind, so they don't know where the feedback is coming from, so it's all kind of pure from where they stand. Most of the feedback is from industry. Some of it is from faculty, so we do involve industry in that way.

And then typically industry has been invited to the shows, which we haven't got quite gotten that far yet, if we're going to be doing that this time around or not, again, because of COVID, every step we take, we have to double check with each other and then with Rich Arnold to make sure that it's appropriate. But industry does get involved in offering the students feedback on their work. The undergraduate, not as much, but the seniors definitely have a very strong industry connection in this way in feedback on their work.

Kristin: I would add for the production class, it feels like a work environment. It's very hands on, whether it's Dean Bath and Professor Blake coming in and looking at what the students are thinking for branding and getting their opinions on that, you know, really seeing them as clients. So getting to do that part of the work, to getting to work a bit with the marketing department and how we actually embed things onto a website and these are terms that I didn't even fully understand. But the students are getting experience with this, and it's pretty amazing they're coming out of here.

Professor Blake also came in and did a little training on some video editing software, so the students now have that. Even if they had never done that before, they now have at least done that training. The students are actually next week doing two training sessions again with the whole class. Five of the students that are kind of experts are taking over and teaching the other students how to use Premiere Pro to take them to the next level.

So I think that's really cool, too. And then we have a production company, eCast, that will come in and some of the students will actually partner with them a little bit, whether it's for lighting or for music or other things. So they're getting to experience all of these different aspects of the industry or just a production alone. They're getting to experience it as industry would, and then they're also working with the design. So this is the coolest thing that the merchandising students and the media students and the designers are working together at this final level to put videos together to help style each other to make all these things happen.

And it's just kind of a cool moment, I think, for all of them. They come in knowing about the show and when they get to this level, it's, it's definitely exciting thing for them.

Lynn: It's been the great thing about teaching this generation is that you just have to jump start them and they take off. So we, we started by giving them just a little simple Adobe Rush demo, and they just plowed right through that and went right on to Adobe Premiere, which is the professional software for video editing. And so, the same thing I taught my seniors rush last week, and just in a matter of two weeks, they've produced, each produced two minute personal videos just so that then when they go to work with their videographers, they have the language, they have the vocabulary. They now know what a storyboard is. They now know what transitions are. They're really much more educated and able to really have command over what their work is going to look like on a digital platform.

Summation: “A Combined Capstone”

Richard: I think what you guys have just heard from, from Lynn and from Kristin is in the pure sense of the word. It is a combined capstone. It is the seniors. The entire senior class is working together to create this magic that they do every single year at the end of the academic year.

And I view it as taking all the skills that they have learned from these two women and the rest of the faculty and taking it, running with it, and producing a show that is just going to blow your mind. And I look at it as the ultimate of capstone and ultimate of symposium productions.

So it doesn't get any better than that. So that's my opinion.

Lynn: Stop making us nervous.

Richard: Well, it's my job, :)

Matt: Well, it's very illuminative. I never considered how expansive the skills and the knowledge and the reach of the project would be, both at Lasell and far beyond it to as well. Clearly. So, thanks so much for joining us today. It was a really a pleasure to speak with all of you about runway and we're looking forward to it as we get closer and closer to it and get closer and closer to symposium.

Richard: Thank you for having us.

Lynn: Thank you for having us.

Kristin: Thank you.

Lee: Thanks for being here.

Matt: Thanks so much for listening to us, everybody. Faculty interested in learning more about teaching and learning here at Lasell can visit MyLasell at https://my.lasell.edu, or you can send us an email at TLC@lasell.edu, or give us a call: 617.243.2001. Creative Commons Music by Jason Shah on audionautix.com

See you later!