UpDate - Vol. 13, No. 38, Page 3
July 21, 1994
Distinctive apparel; Hand-painted clothing combines art and fashion

     Mary Jane Matranga's fashion designs are painterly with pizzazz!
The assistant professor of apparel design creates hand-painted
fashions that combine art and high-fashion design.
     She paints designs directly on fabric but uses dyes instead of
paints to achieve her effects. After the fabric has been processed,
she creates innovative, one-of-a-kind gowns or coats. Frequently, her
fashions have a theme, such as a rain forest or a brick motif.
     Most recently, she completed a coat based on a barn design,
called "Midwest Memory." The fabric was painted to resemble weathered
wooden boards, with the hem slashed to look like wooden slats. The
back bears the motto "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco," while the front
features an Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign. The coat's front opening
corresponds to the barn door with fasteners reminiscent of barn
hardware.
     Matranga has been invited to enter the coat in the "Uncommon
Threads '94" competition this fall, sponsored by the Fine Arts Line
Creative Arts Center in Chicago, in which she was a finalist last
year.
     In past years, Matranga's designs have received several awards.
In 1992, she won the International Textile and Apparel Association's
(ITAA) best of show for "Los curios de Baja," a coat designed around a
desert landscape. She won first place in the most creative category
with Karen Schaeffer, associate professor of textiles, design and
consumer economics, for "Yi Long (Jade Dragon)," a long Chinese-
inspired dress of green latex. "Jacques Cousteau"-a coat portraying an
under-seascape moving up to the ocean's surface and the sky with a
wavy hem line and culminating in a collar of clouds-received honorable
mention in 1991.
     Matranga said combining painting, fashion design and sewing comes
naturally to her. Her father was a painter, and her mother was a
gifted seamstress, although Matranga herself did not learn to sew
until she was an adult.
     When it was time for college, Matranga and her mother visited the
University of Cincinnati. "When I saw those rows of sewing machines
for fashion design majors, I was intimidated and decided then and
there to become a fine arts major," she said. She graduated with a BFA
and became a high school art teacher.
     While teaching in New Jersey, she learned of Drexel University's
master's program in design and decided this was the opportunity she
had been waiting for. She immediately signed up, attending courses
after teaching her own art classes.
     After she received her master's degree, she designed luggage for
such labels as Christian Dior, Jordache and Members Only. Her job took
her to manufacturers in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, and the
Asian influence shows in some of her creations.
     Matranga also does fashion illustrations, including the art work
for the ITAA competition program, which features the finalists'
fashions. She does the illustrations as a professional service and
frequently is able to include some of her students' designs in the
booklet.
     Matranga, who joined the University faculty in 1988, said she
enjoys combining her teaching and designing skills-teaching classes in
clothing construction, accessories design and fashion illustration.
     In 1991, she and associate professor Jo Kallal took a group of
students to Paris and Milan during Winter Session for art and fashion
courses. The class visited art museums and fashion houses, studying
the influence of modern art on fashion.
     One assignment for her class was creating accessories in the
style of a well-known artist. One student chose the greens and blues
of Monet to create a picture hat reminiscent of his famous garden
paintings. Another created an evening bag based on the geometric,
primary-color cut-outs of Matisse.
     Matranga continues to be a student herself, always learning new
techniques and skills in her profession.
     As she says in summing up her career, "I have been lucky to be
able to do what I do best and enjoy the most."
                                                   -Sue Swyers Moncure