Marymount Students Create Golf Apparel

Marymount University students have been putting a grant from the cotton industry to good use. MU fashion design students worked in teams to create golf apparel in the junior and young men’s size range for high school students. On December 8, seven seniors were recognized with $300 scholarships after their work won a juried fashion show on campus.

Those honored included the Royal Golf team of designer Benedikete Hatlehol of Alesund, Norway, and fashion merchandisers Lena Marinaccio of Long Valley, N.J., Caitrin Waites of Silver Spring, Md., and Hannah Cline of Middleburg. The other winning team, Birdie, included designer Maya Shaw of Richmond, and fashion merchandisers Alexis Baker of Sayreville, N.J., and Chelsea Connestro of Sayville, N.Y.

A total of 34 students, all juniors and seniors, were taught in two classes by Dr. May Chae, an assistant professor of fashion design. The materials used in class were obtained through an $11,375 grant from Cotton Incorporated, a non-profit trade organization that conducts research and promotes the use of cotton. Chae and her students visited the Cotton Incorporated World Headquarters in Cary, N.C., to learn about cotton manufacturing and technology.

The students worked as they would in the product development process in the fashion industry.

“I wanted them to have real world experience in product development trends,” Chae said.

As part of the process, students interviewed golfers in Arlington to get ideas for tops, shirts, pants and skirts.

“And lots of them made skorts – a combination of shorts and skirts – for comfort as one of the functional needs identified by the interview participants,” Chae said.

Each team developed a line consisting of five pieces made of at least 60 percent cotton, then picked one to sew as a prototype.

Marissa “Mimi” Miller, a senior fashion design major from Manassas, conducted trend research, created a company logo, designed the line and created a presentation board that included designs, color, fabric swatches and inspirational images.

“The most important job I had was creating the sample garment and completing the specification sheets for the finished garment,” Miller said. “My favorite part about working on this project was seeing how everything came full circle. It was cool for me to see what goes into the merchandising side of producing a line in addition to the design part.”

Fashion Merchandising major Veronica Calero worked on a line for boys. She and her team researched their target market and trends such as colors, styles and fabrics, developed a competitors analysis and researched sourcing.

“I had a lot of fun working on this project with my team because we kept an open mind,” Calero said. “In the end, we went from being strangers to colleagues, and now friends.” 

The fashion creations were judged during two sessions by Jonathan Sands, retail director at Army Navy Country Club, Lynne Shank, wife of Marymount President Matthew D. Shank, Annette Ames, an associate professor of fine and applied arts at Marymount, Stephen Moskai, head men’s golf coach at Marymount, and Nick Green, a friend of Marymount and works in the golf industry. The students’ work will be highlighted in a scene during Marymount’s popular Portfolio in Motion fashion show on April 30.

Chae, who joined Marymount’s Fashion program in 2009, was also awarded a Cotton Incorporated grant in 2010 for a course that created tennis wear for female players 55 and older. Her primary research area is functional design.

Photo Captions:

Photo 1:
Teams of Marymount University students recently designed original golf apparel in the junior and young men’s size range for high school students. Designer Mimi Miller explains an outfit modeled by Rachel Keenan during a juried fashion show on campus.

Photo 2:
Model Deena Parker shows off a design by Benedikete Hatlehol, who was on one of the two winning teams during a recent juried fashion show on campus. 

Photo 3:
Model Deena Parker is shown wearing an original work by designer Maya Shaw, who was on one of the two winning teams during a recent juried fashion show on campus.

Photo 4:
Model Christopher Gaitan is shown wearing the work of designer Betsy Romero.

Photo 5:
Deena Parker models a design from Victoria Hubbard.