Monica McMurry to Showcase Original Designs in Beijing
Monica McMurry, dean of Stephens' School of Design and Fashion, will travel to China to present two of her original designs to an international audience of designers and scholars. Her work was selected to be part of a juried show co-sponsored by the Beijing Institute of Fashion Technology (BIFT) and the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA), in Beijing, which runs March 21-30.
About the Designs
"Helter Skelter”
A slightly retro Italian wool coat—representing McMurry's daily whirlwind of moving from meeting, to class, to committee, to counseling a student—will be featured in the Commercial Marketability, Classroom tool (couture techniques/tailoring) category.
"The coat became a class project for the senior capstone tailoring class. I used it daily to show students tailoring techniques from interfacings to hems and linings. I designed and fit the swirl designs onto the muslin to form their pattern shapes. These shapes were set by hand with a blanket stitch. … The silk charmeuse lining adds another pop of color and another touch of intrigue as one twirls in the coat creating another full-flared hem sense of rhythm with a hint of color that catches the eye."
"Organza Happiness”
1950s-inspired special occasion dress made from 15 yards of silk organza, hand-dyed in tea. It was created to combine the energy of a fiesta alongside the elegance of Grace Kelly. McMurry co-designed the dress with her daughter, Caitlyn Williams ’07, who teaches fashion at Collins College in Phoenix, for a family friend.
"This dress was the result of email consultations with the bride in Chicago, Ill., for design, patterns and muslins constructed in Phoenix, fittings in Columbia, Mo., and final construction in Phoenix and Columbia. The dress then went on to be in three wedding parties in three states."
At Stephens, McMurry has taught classes in history of costume, tailoring and Breaking the Pattern, a topics class where students explored how fashion can become a vehicle for societal change and open source activism. Her areas of interest include couture sewing and tailoring, historic clothing design and construction applied to today's fashion, and sustainable fashion. She is the curator of Stephens’ Costume Research Library, which contains more than 13,000 garments and accessories. She previously ran her own custom design business for 15 years.
McMurry is working toward a Ph.D. at the University of Missouri-Columbia in Textiles and Apparel Management with an emphasis on historic dress especially as related to Jacqueline Kennedy and women of the early 1960s. She earned a B.F.A. in Fashion Design from Stephens College, and an M.S. in Textile and Apparel Management from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Want to study fashion at Stephens? Learn more: Stephens' Fashion Department
