The apparel industry, though driven by fashion and expected to embrace transformation, is often resistant to change in its technologies and vision, according to Susan P. Ashdown, Professor Emerita in Human Centered Design in the College of Human Ecology. This attitude has also been apparent in patternmaking textbooks used in apparel programs, but in editing the 4th edition of Draping for Apparel Design (Fairchild Books, 2022) Ashdown transformed this text from a ‘how-to’ book suited to a 1950s classroom to a modern book with an inclusive vocabulary, as well as methods and topics directed to the students who will lead the apparel industry in the future. In a live, hybrid Chats in the Stacks book talk, Ashdown will discuss how her text is closer to an engineering book than a sewing manual, and how it teaches students a deep understanding of the concepts of patternmaking with a focus on the complex and rewarding process of developing patterns to fit the range of body variation and using materials that exhibit a seemingly endless range of properties. 

This talk is hosted by Mann Library. Light refreshments will be served.