The Future Of Fashion
Sabrina Kay: creating the next generation of designers
Interviewed by Martha Singer and Harlan Boll

Harlan Boll: Historically, the John Fairchilds and Diana Vrelands of the fashion industry have determined what will and what will not be in fashion. Do you have any desire to add your name to this illustrious list or do you lean toward your students to become the future fashion moguls?
SABRINA KAY: It is a fantasy of everyone in the fashion industry to be the world-famous trendsetter who influences the way people dress, think and live. As a young girl, it was one of my fantasies too. Fashion, and more particularly, what's "in," is determined by many things. John Fairchild, for example, has been monopolizing people's thoughts in the fashion industry through his publications. Through his marketing brilliance, he altered the way people thought about fashion. California Design College has a similar potential to influence the way the fashion industry thinks about designing through technology because of the abundance of informational and industrial power technology can provide. A designer with a piece of paper and eight colored pencils is limited as to what that designer can create. Our student, with a computer and its software, and a connection to the Internet, has access to virtually every style ever created and every color ever desired. Our designers, exercising unlimited potential through technology, will be the major influence on fashion in the future. I am very happy where I am - being part of the creative team that generates the future workforce. Our graduates will be the new power in the fashion industry, and I will vicariously live my dream through their creative energy.

Do you feel that the fashion industry as a whole has been reluctant to embrace progress with regard to these new technologies?
When fashion technology was in its infancy, which was only ten years ago, the industry was very reluctant to embrace it because fashion designers didn't know how to use it. Traditionally, fashion has been taught either as art or as home economics. The designers were artists - creative people using fine-art tools trained with a fine-art mentality. Due to mass production and economic development, people started understanding that fashion is business. Therefore, computers became necessities to make production more efficient.
     Since then, two things have happened. First, the technology has improved at an amazing speed. Second, the workforce in fashion has changed. California Design College was the first specialized college that has blended creativity with technology to create better, more efficient fashion professionals. The fashion industry is left with no choice but to embrace and implement the technological development. The technology is here to stay.

Are there any current fashion techniques you can foresee that will fade in time due to the new technologies and that you personally will miss?
Perhaps the most significant technique that is being lost is the hand-rendered illustration. I will personally miss the great works of Antonio Lopez's watercolors and marker techniques, which will be almost obsolete in the future. The time it takes to produce hand renderings is not available in the industry today.
      Art will always play a role in fashion but it will not be the driving influence it once was. Technology has replaced drawing skills. I often tell my students that if they want to be a fine artist, they are in the wrong school. Fashion is a commercial venture that is driven by efficiency. Our student designers, sitting at their computers, are more productive than a room full of the finest pre-1970 designers. They are not better; they are more efficient. Fashion runs on this efficiency.
      This is not to say couture designs or costume designs will disappear. Quite the contrary, this niche will always exist. But the vast majority of garments produced today were designed electronically rather than by hand.

What do you think of the recent retirement of James Galanos, Saint Laurent and Todd Oldham? Do you think their decisions to retire have anything to do with the new direction fashion is taking and are there any up-and-coming designers whom you think have 'star potential'?
I think the retirement of each of these giants is very different. Todd Oldham has moved from fashion to photography. He has simply changed his creative outlet.

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