Kathi Martin

As a full professor in the Fashion program, I teach fashion and surface design, and various CAD technologies, including Clo 3 Fashion Design. From 1973 to 1996, I was designer/owner of a designer sportswear company whose clients included Neiman Marcus, Barney’s, Bendels, Nan Duskin, Harvey Nichols in London and other fashion stores in the USA and the Caribbean. My fashion design is included in the permanent collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and has been in editorials in British Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, The New York Sunday Times Magazine, Harpers and Queen and other fashion magazines.

My background as a fine artist and experience as a fashion designer and small business owner complements the Fashion Design Program’s core curriculum where fine and design arts are the foundation for the aesthetic and cultural concepts of fashion design; and to the development of the technical and management skills and concepts necessary to support design research and experimentation. My research in production, curation and dissemination of virtual fashion and digital cultural heritage presents multifaceted, multidisciplinary problems beyond the scope of the traditional boundaries of the fashion design discipline. It has engaged students as well as faculty from multiple Drexel disciplines; and has included visiting scholars from South Korea, China, England, Australia and Switzerland. This diverse group exemplifies the collaboration I firmly believe to be critical to keeping the academic community vibrant and current.