Prof's gown earns international textile association award

Fabric and an admiration for artwork helped Rosetta LaFleur, Department of Consumer Studies, win a top design award from the International Textile and Apparel Association at a recent conference in Cincinnati (see related article).

LaFleur bought the fabric for the winning dress design, "Metallic Fan," over 10 years ago. "At that time, it was something that just attracted my attention," she said, holding up the lightweight dress. "I liked the sheerness of it. I liked the metallic yarns running through it. I had no idea what I would do with it."

The next spark came in Paris, while LaFleur was visiting the Louvre and admiring the work of Edgar Degas. "I was just inspired by the ballet dancers and the lightness," she says.

"For me, it's the fabric," she said. "I like textiles. I like the idea of looking at a design on a piece of fabric and asking, 'OK, if I put a design line here, how will it change the look of that fabric?'"

But, her fascination with fabric and design extends back a lot further than 10 years.

In Baton Rouge, La., where LaFleur grew up with her father, mother, two sisters and two brothers, she picked up textile and design skills by watching her mother sew. LaFleur majored in textiles and clothing at Southern University, attending Louisiana State University, where she earned her master's degree. She completed her doctorate in 1982 at the University of Tennessee.

She said her early years shaped her style. "I think I'm two different people," she said. "Inside the classroom, I'm very serious, no nonsense, get to the point. I have a plan when I go in there. Outside the classroom, I have a softer side. I think it shows in my advisement. There are some students who might not like me in the classroom but want me to be their adviser."

Shannon Blake, 22, CHEP '98, now working at QVC in West Chester, Pa., said she clearly remembers her first day of class. "She handed out comments that students had written about her on her review from last year," Blake said. "It was really quite an attention-getter. It was almost intimidating. She wasn't shy about it at all. She just sat up there looking at us as we were reading them. She was pretty much doing it to tell us what we had to prepare for."

LaFleur joined UD's consumer studies faculty in 1983. Today she teaches several classes, primarily "Advanced Textiles" and "Advanced Fashion Merchandising." She also helps students get a taste of the fashion world. She assists in arranging visits to New York City for students to meet with merchandising and fashion industry experts. She helps identify internship options for students and encourages them to acquire industry experience prior to graduation. This gives students a taste of future work and informs prospective employers of their training at the University, according to LaFleur. "We want to keep pace with what's going on so that once the students graduate, they are prepared," she said.

In addition, LaFleur is faculty liaison for a program with the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, a leading four-year state school with degrees in art and design and business and technology. Under the program, UD consumer studies students can spend three years at the Newark campus and one year at FIT.

LaFleur advises students and oversees their educational progress with FIT. Karen Stein, consumer studies department chair, said, "Perhaps her greatest impact is being director of our liaison program with the Fashion Institute of Technology. She counsels students and keeps in touch with them while they're there so a piece of Delaware travels with them. Her impact really has to do with the personal relationships that she forms with our students," she stressed.

"I really want students to be successful," LaFleur said. "I want them to feel that once they leave the University that they are well-prepared and can compete with anybody out there."

During the 1999 winter session, Josette Moore, 22, CHEP '99, now working at McCall's magazine in New York, said she remembers shopping with LaFleur in Paris at a street market. "Prof. LaFleur took three of us. She knew exactly where to go and what to buy and how to bargain. It was remarkable to see how comfortable she was in the city. From that perspective, we didn't look at her as our teacher."

On the last day of LaFleur's advanced fashion merchandising class, she takes a picture of each student. She asks everyone to send notes about where they are employed and how they are doing after they graduate.

LaFleur smiled and showed a department bulletin board filled with the faces and notes from the students of her classes. She reads the employer names: Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Richard Tyler, McCall's, Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, to name a few. It's a long list.

LaFleur said she believes that her roles of instructor, adviser and designer require creative ideas that need tending. "But, it doesn't always have to be nurtured by working on the ideas," she said. She often will leave a project alone and switch to another activity, such as gardening or golf. "You can plant it in your mind as a seed," she said. "Go away. Then, come back to it. If you want to maintain creativity in your life, try to focus on things outside of what you might consider your world."

–Chris Lepine

The winning design

The International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) recently presented Rosetta LaFleur, consumer studies, with its Outstanding Faculty Designer award for 2000 at its annual conference in Cincinnati. LaFleur received the award for her dress design, "Metallic Fan." Her work was selected by an independent panel of fashion industry experts. ITAA members are faculty at institutions worldwide.

The winning design is an elegant formal dress created for a young woman, age 16-25. It includes double layers of crisp metallic plaid polyester organza, tricolor nylon, cotton batiste, gold buttons and gold beading. The bodice front features a fan design made from folded material at the bust line.

The industry review panel recognized LaFleur for her significant research, interpretation of current and historical styles and technical patterning and construction techniques for the design. "Metallic Fan" was inspired by works from the 19th century. While in Paris a couple of years ago, LaFleur visited the Louvre and admired several paintings by Edgar Degas. "I was just inspired by the ballet dancers and the lightness," she said. "When I came back, I was trying to think about what I could do to capture the feeling in fabric."

Although LaFleur's area of emphasis is in fashion merchandising, she often designs clothing. She said she decided to enter the competition after teaching a course involving computer-aided design. "I became more interested in not only how apparel designs were forecasted but actually doing them myself," she said.

–Christopher Lepine