Parsons School of Design introduced three courses teaching CLO this past fall which will continue through Spring 2020. Francesca Sammaritano (Assistant Professor of Fashion & Director of AAS Fashion Design Program) thought it would be best to introduce CLO in both AAS and BFA programs within the School of Fashion. Students in the BFA Specialized Studio & Design Studio: CLO 3D Collection courses, co-taught by Francesca and Soojin Kang had their final presentations last month to end the semester. The assignment was to produce a collection of 5 designs in CLO and develop 3 of them in muslin on the dress forms, the students truly went above and beyond. The end results were quite impressive and incredible to see as the course was only a mere 15 weeks.
Lauren Lee’s collection entitled The Hidden Beauty was inspired by Hanok—a traditional Korean architecture—and Dancheong—a Korean traditional ornamentation usually found on wooden surfaces. It features colorful and decorative designs through strategic and unique fabrication manipulation techniques.When creating the patterns for this collection, Lauren says that using CLO shaved 5 days off of the normal time it would take for patternmaking. When asked what her favorite thing was about using the software she says, “It looks super realistic and the comparison of CLO to the real product is exactly the same.” Being able to see how the design would come out before the physical garment was made was one of the most important things for Lauren and she says this increased her productivity significantly.
When talking with another student named Yiren Zhou, she was most impressed with CLO allowing her more time for creativity in her designs. “I can use CLO as a way to manipulate things, to do trims, and things that take so long to make. Like the beading and all the detailed things. So CLO for me is a way to create,” she said. Outside the scope of this particular project, Zhou was even able to lend a hand with her family’s manufacturing business in China by sending tech packs created in CLO to help advance their own processes.
“I observed students growing fast as a strong designer who can visualize and execute their visions in 2D and 3D. CLO3D became a powerful tool for this ‘Gen-Z’ students to express their ideas and help them in the creation process, both in 3D virtual space or with a real garment. I am thrilled about our young generation students who connect heavily to technology finally having the right tool in their hands that they feel confident and passionate about learning. Our students and I were delighted that our class was the first class teaching CLO3D in Parsons. It was sensational,” says Soojin professor of the Collection x CLO3D course.
Sketches of Elysium Collection by Eleanor Zheng 
CLO Renderings
Nile Guiraud says, ”I was going in one direction at the beginning of the semester, then once I found my direction and realized what I wanted to do, because CLO was so efficient, I was able to re-drape everything and go back and start some looks over that I didn’t like.” With CLO, she was able to make one of the designs in Muslin featured in her final collection just a week before it was due.
We are always thrilled when the next generation of designers get their hands on CLO’s software as this will play a part in making the fashion industry a more sustainable place, while also providing them with the tools needed to simplify their design process.