AAU's New Beginnings

Graduating fashion students at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco will compete for internships with top fashion designers and the opportunity to display designs in the windows of Neiman Marcus at “Fashion 2004,” the school’s annual graduation fashion show. The university will host the event on May 18 at the Morgan Auditorium in downtown San Francisco.

Academy of Art President Elisa Stephens will present honorary doctorates to Joan Kaner, senior vice president and fashion director at Neiman Marcus, and Los Angeles– based fashion designer Jeremy Scott. In keeping with a long-standing tradition, San Francisco’s district attorney, the recently elected Kamala Harris, will name May 18 “Joan Kaner and Jeremy Scott Day” in San Francisco.

After the show, Kaner will choose several collections to be displayed for one week in the Neiman Marcus windows in Union Square. She will also select one graduating student to intern for the American couture designer Ralph Rucci, whose line, outside of New York, is carried exclusively by Neiman Marcus.

Scott said he will be looking for “a mix of creativity, technique and a positive personality” when he selects a design student to intern at his Los Angeles studio. “Working closely with people in my studio means that I have to have a good feeling with them as a person, as well,” he explained.

The event will also feature the Environmental Protection Agency’s “P3 Award” grant competition for designs that demonstrate the theme of “sustainability,” the ability to achieve economic prosperity while protecting the environment and enhancing global welfare.

The graduation fashion show will be open to the public at 4 p.m. A second show for the trade and press will begin at 7 p.m. The graduate collections will also be displayed on May 22 at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego and on May 23 at The Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. The university plans to take the show to New York in November.

For reservations and more information, call (415) 263- 4917. —Jessica Kantor