He’s dressed Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandan, “Saturday Night Live’s” Molly Shannon, singer Cyndi Lauper, the hip hop group Destiny’s Child and numerous stars on CBS’s “The Bold and the Beautiful.”

In a room that resembles a New York fashion studio, surrounded by sketches of couture hung on crisp, white walls and mannequins dressed in exquisite, sparkling gowns, his passion for the industry is obvious. With eyes wide and hands moving, emphasizing every word, he excitedly converses with students about some of his favorite designers, including Coco Channel, Madeline Vionnet and Pierre Cardin.

Dressed in a form-fitting black shirt with a splash of red in the collar and black pants, the tall, slender Thomas Steinbruck, speaking perfect English with a touch of German accent, leads a discussion in his “Costume/ Fashion History II” course, part of the new curriculum in the Fashion, Merchandising, Textiles and Design Department.

Steinbruck has worked in the House of Dior in Paris, operated his own clothing line in New York, served as a design consultant for CBS and works as a fashion consultant for BMW. His designs have been seen in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, In Style and The New York Times, and have graced the red carpet at the Academy Awards, the Emmy Awards, and the Miss Universe Pageant. They’ve even been seen on E! and “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Two years ago, Steinbruck brought his expertise to Albright when he became chair of the Fashion, Merchandising, Textiles and Design Department. He rewrote the curriculum and redesigned the office and classroom space to resemble a fashion studio, complete with a textiles library. Ever since, the department has reaped the benefits of his expertise. Enrollment has increased from 37 students in 2002 to 73 for fall 2004.

Steinbruck found Albright soon after the September 11 terrorist attacks. “After 9/11 I had to re-think my career options,” he says. A friend pointed him in Albright’s direction. For a man who was used to the hustle and bustle of New York City, coming to Berks County “was a big change,” he says with a laugh. But he notes that he enjoys the peace that Berks County offers. Splitting his time between New York City and Reading, Steinbruck is still consulting for BMW and teaching at Parson’s School of Design.

Albright’s first clothing and textile design major started in 1978. The major, which ran successfully for many years under the direction of Constance Heller-Horacek, associate professor of fashion merchandising & design, has always attracted many students. However, new technology has brought new elements to the industry, resulting in the need for a revised curriculum.

“It (the program) needed to meet the demands of the industry today. Fashion is ever changing. You have to keep up-to-date,” Steinbruck says.

Approximately 22 new courses were added and many existing courses were revised. “We also worked with other departments like theatre, business, digital media and art to find a way to work in other courses, give students a more-interdisciplinary experience, and make it easier for them to have combined majors.”

“The program needed to meet the demands of the industry today. Fashion is ever changing. You have to keep up to date.”

– Thomas Steinbruck

Hiring other professionals from the industry was one of his top priorities. “I wanted someone with similar experience as me, but a little more technical, someone who specialized in CAD (computer aided design),” he says. Loraine Mellor, a design and marketing consultant for Elite Sportswear, was hired as the first full-time faculty member.

CAD is a big part of the new curriculum, Steinbruck says. “If you don’t know CAD you won’t get anywhere. It’s so essential in fashion today.”

CAD records everything on the computer in a representative form so one can work with it in design, sales and production. “On the one hand it’s an informational tool for people about the product,” says Mellor. “On the other hand it’s a creative tool used to make choices.” Mellor has offered two CAD classes at Albright for the past two years. The first class focuses on the technological aspect and the second class is “the fun design part of it,” she says. “It’s very difficult for a recent graduate to obtain a job without knowing how to take it at least this far,” she says. “They (employers) have that expectation of recent students.”

Danielle Thibault ’03, assistant designer with S. Rothschild in New York City, agrees. “If I had not taken Loraine Mellor’s CAD classes, I wouldn’t have been hired,” she says. “Not only did she teach me the core of the drawing programs, she also taught me to draw well and pay attention to details. This has allowed me to excel in my position.”

On the other end of the spectrum, it’s also important for fashion students to learn the basics – the old-fashioned, hands-on sewing experience that teaches students what it takes to create and make a garment, says Lise Jones ’85, an instructor in the department who has worked in the fashion industry in both Germany and the United States since the late 1940s.

In Jones’ “Fashion Technology” class, Latonia Reed ’07 sits at a sewing machine learning how to thread it. Rebecca Hannon ’06 cuts out the pattern she designed for a hot pink tote bag, while Francesca Cinfici ’07 pins the black, satin fabric she’ll use to construct her tote bag. From making a sketch to developing a pattern to actually cutting the project out of fabric and constructing it, the students are learning how an object or garment is produced. “There are designers who don’t have the old-fashioned experience,” says Jones. “But if you don’t know how to execute something it hampers the design. Here the students get an awakening of what’s behind the finished product.”

Hands-on experience is vitally important, says Steinbruck, who apprenticed with Gianfranco Ferre and the House of Christian Dior following his graduation from Studio Bercot and L'École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris, France.

The “Senior Seminar” class is in itself a hands-on experience. The students, or as Steinbruck refers to them, “professionals in training,” build a fictitious fashion company, going through every step of the process – devising a plan, coming up with a name, mission, logo, the design collection, production and distribution of the collection.

Last spring, students created Den’Em, Inc., a denim line blending urban style with musical influences from various decades. The modern and edgy collection used lush materials – rich in texture but relaxed for everyday wear – and was designed for the Generation Y (ages 14-25) female market, the market with the most disposable income and focus on apparel. “It really gives them a glimpse into the industry,” Steinbruck says. “It makes them understand how much goes into it.”

A mandatory internship has also been built into the curriculum. A departmental Fashion Job Bank that lists companies in the industry ranging from fashion magazines to retail to designers of sportswear, formal wear and even baby products, helps students network and find internships or employment in the fashion industry.

During her senior year, recent graduate Alexandra Kweselait ’04 interned at Banzai Creations, a tie-dyed apparel company in Downingtown, Pa. “I experienced first-hand what it’s like to take a product from conception to completion,” she says. “I was able to design the color scheme and pattern for the tie dye, get it approved by the owner, mix the colors and work with the folders and tell them how to fold it.”

Stacey Hardy ’04 took her internship experience at Bill’s Khakis and turned it into a job at Elite Sportswear in Reading. During her internship, she says she “learned how to pick fabric, what their clientele is like, how they created an image with their product, and what decisions go into marketing. It was a great experience.”

“I experienced first-hand what it’s like to take a product
from conception to completion.”

– Alexandra Kweselait ’04

Now, as a design assistant at Elite Sportswear, Hardy helps design jewels for the garments, attends fashion meetings with the designers, picks out fabrics and processes new developmental fabrics. With a triple major – photography, business and fashion – plus her internship that helped her “see the business side of things, what a corporate setting is like, how people interact and the whole process of design,” she says she was extremely confident going into the job market.

“The fashion program is a really big asset to the College,” Hardy says. “It’s something that Albright has to offer that not many other schools have.”

The difference with Albright’s program, Steinbruck says, is that “we offer a high quality fashion program modeled after the leading design schools, but at the same time, have a very strong interdisciplinary and liberal arts component.” Students who come out of schools like Parsons, he says, can only design. “They’re not well-rounded. Our students are extremely lucky.”

Interim president David Stinebeck agrees. “Our program is preferable because it exposes students, in the context of liberal arts, to all aspects of the fashion and textile business, from design to merchandising. It’s a broader, less technical degree than Parsons or the Fashion Institute of Technology, yet it has crucial computer courses in the curriculum.”

“When a student leaves the program they leave with enough knowledge of the industry to move confidently into a fashion- related job,” Steinbruck says. “They are technologically aware. They know how to multi-task…those skills are essential in the fashion industry whether you’re a buyer, designer or publicist.”