FIDM Debut 2023 at Cooper Design Space
Cooper Design Space had the privilege of hosting the annual debut show of the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) on March 31st. Nick Verreos, the co-chair of the Fashion Design Department was able to take a few moments to tell us all about the school and why they chose Cooper Design Space.
FIDM has been in Los Angeles for 60 years, based in Downtown LA and we are here at Cooper Design Space to hold our annual debut fashion show. Now, this has been happening for many, many years. I've been the co-chair of the fashion design department for the last five years. I was an instructor in fashion design, but also one of FIDM’s students, and in fact was part of this debut show many years ago. This is a full circle moment for me.
Nick greets the audience before the show begins.
This event is our graduate design fashion showcase. It's part of the Advanced Fashion design program, which is a third year program that we have in addition to the regular AA program. We choose 10 to 12 of the most talented graduates from the fashion design program. Then they spend nine months, three quarters, creating their first capsule collection. This is their moment to showcase their collection, a culmination of all their work. This year we have 11 graduates and each of them are showing 10 to 12 looks in the show. That's why it’s called the debut show. We are debuting them to the industry and the public. As co-chair of the fashion design department, we want to say these are what's next in fashion.
We're here in Los Angeles. You know, everybody thinks of New York as the fashion capital, but really it’s Los Angeles. LA, per capita makes more money in terms of manufacturing and retail in fashion. And of course, we are the nucleus of Street Fare. You know, everything comes here. All the big design houses such as Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, you know from Paris to Milan, are now coming to LA and Hollywood to show. I think it's just perfect to be in this space.
We love Cooper Design Space and the building, especially the 11th floor, this huge loft! It's just a perfect, perfect set to showcase. We love the sort of industrialness of it because it's how shows are being shown now. If you look at Europe and at New York and the spaces that designers are showing their fashion, it's spaces such as this. We're just surprised more people aren't doing it. We've been doing it here for the last few years and we are humbled. I'm happy to be showing at Cooper Design Space.
View the full show on YouTube
Learn more about FIDM and Upcoming FIDM Events Here: www.fidm.edu/