SDHE styling class produces “Dam Chic” magazine

The past two years School of Design and Human Environment instructor Keith Nishida has tried to use his DHE 299 summer class to push the boundaries a bit on what students expect from a summer class.

This year that meant his Fashion Styling class — eight students meeting four days a week for three weeks — produced a 40-page fashion magazine titled “DAM Chic,” traveling from Corvallis to Portland to speak with OSU alumni working in the apparel industry.

“They went above and beyond expectations,” Nishida said of his students. “I think they took it upon themselves to polish and put their own personal stamp on it.”

Participating in the class were students Walter Blice, Olivia Echols, Ariana Giesbrecht, Erin Hatley, Katie Keister, Chandra Magnuson, Melisa Magnuson and Bailey Phillpott.

The class started as Nishida’s attempt to show students there is more to fashion styling than just the celebrity styling most people are familiar with.

“A lot of people know celebrity styling exists but they don’t know anything beyond that,” he said. “The point of this course was to introduce students to the fact that styling isn’t exclusive to celebrity styling.”

From there, Nishida hoped to show how students could combine that creativity and commerce through the form of commercial styling in a fashion magazine.

The magazine gave students an opportunity to experiment and build different skill sets related to SDHE disciplines – such as fashion writing, photography, design, marketing and promotion- all into one comprehensive project.

Students wrote, photographed and even served as models for the inaugural issue, with many shots done in and around Oregon State and Corvallis. Students also did interviews with alumni Kathleen McNally of Columbia Sportswear and Jillian Rabe, an alumna who operates her own production haus in the Pearl District.

The final product is now available online at facebook.com/damchicmagazine. Launched on Sept. 6, the final day of the course, the Facebook page received more than 100 likes in its first 24 hours, Nishida said.

So far there has been interest from students to make DAM Chic a club and continue publishing in the future, though nothing is yet in place. No matter where the process goes from here, Nishida said he was impressed by the commitment the class showed to the project.

“I’m so proud of my students, they put so much love into it,” he said. “If this is to have another issue, I’d like to see more local businesses, local boutiques and non-fashion business in Corvallis [get involved with the magazine]. It’d be a testament to how important OSU is for the Corvallis community, and Corvallis to OSU.”