FACULTY
THE BEST INTERIOR IN RETAIL
Jinbae Park, assistant professor of Interior Design
Who needs a store to buy products when you can easily go online? In my class Design History, Theory and Criticism, I teach that a store needs to be an experience.
The Soho Prada flagship, designed by Rem Koolhaas, pushed the envelope of interior design when it opened in 2001 by bringing theater to shopping. Entertainment might be fun, but good theater upgrades your experience by challenging your values and shifting your perceptions.
At the Prada store, the latest collection is displayed up front, and then there’s a huge cylindrical glass elevator that takes you downstairs. It tells you this is not just a clothing store; it feels like a high-tech company.
Behind the elevator, a long sculptural ramp called The Wave connects the main floor to the basement; they hold music performances and film screenings there. That’s the climax of the theatrical experience.
Years before smartphones, the fitting rooms had digital devices that would email pictures of you in the clothes to help you decide. They took something ordinary and made it an event.
The younger generation may not be able to afford Prada’s products, but once they see that the space is great, there’s a much higher chance they will recognize the brand and make a purchase one day.
—As told to Jonathan Vatner
BRINGING IKAT TO OPERA
A faculty member wins a prestigious award for innovative costume designs
Daniel James Cole, adjunct assistant professor of Fashion Design-Art, won the 2024 Costume Society of America (CSA) Costume Design Award. This honor recognizes Cole’s inventive work on the 2022 production of the Richard Strauss (1864–1949) opera Ariadne auf Naxos, staged by Arizona Opera.
The complex plot of Ariadne requires three clearly defined costume schemes. “Three different worlds must contrast but coexist,” Cole says. “The reality of the wealthy man, seen in the below-stairs kitchen/pantry realm; the world and visual language of the commedia dell’arte troupe; and the elegant theatricality of the opera company.” Originally composed as a companion piece to Molière’s play Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1670), the opera is typically set in the 17th century; however, for this production, the director and Cole set the action in 1912, the year the opera premiered.
Renaldo Barnette, adjunct assistant professor of Fashion assistant professor of Fashion Design, created sketches based on Cole’s concepts.
Costume illustration courtesy of Daniel James Cole
The shift presented a creative challenge for Cole, who has taught courses in world textiles and costume design. Researching the period through paintings and other sources, he discovered that ikat fabrics were becoming fashionable in imperial Russia and Western Europe. Commedia Harlequins typically wear diamonds on their costumes, but Cole decided to let ikat designs “do the work of the diamonds.” For silhouettes, he took inspiration from Emilie Louise Flӧge (1874–1952), a Viennese avant-garde dress designer and the common-law wife of the painter Gustav Klimt.
Cole coauthored The History of Modern Fashion (Laurence King, 2015), and has written articles about American fashion. He designed costumes for the summer 2025 production of Sweeney Todd for Opera Maine.
