Faculty Staff
Diane Green is the Chair for the Fashion Department. In addition to her teaching and advising duties, she also coordinates the student dressers for fashion shows at Macy's, Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. She is former San Francisco correspondent for W and Women's Wear Daily, as well as the Fashion Editor of the Nob Hill Gazette and Contributing Fashion Editor of San Francisco Focus Magazine. As a fashion consultant, she produced Macy's Accessory seminars, presented fashion seminars for the Shaklee Corporation, produced fashion segments on KPIX's "People Are Talking" and Evening Magazine. In addition she was an image consultant for the news anchors on KPIX and KQED. Diane had her own Public Relations firm, Diane Green International Public Relations for 15 years. Some of her clients have been: Chanel, Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent, Frette, Bottega Veneta, Britex Fabrics, Bogner and LaBelle Day Spas & Salons, to name a few. An expert on haute couture, she often attends the Paris couture fashion shows and recently wrote an article for the San Francisco Chronicle on "Crafting Couture".
Education:
B. A., Brooklyn College; M. A., State University of New York
at Stony Brook; Interior Design, Wilsey Institute, New York.
Kelly Armstrong is a Personal Development/Image Consultant and founded Artist Development/Imagemaking in 1988. It is a unique consulting service specializing is self-esteem building, beauty makeovers and personal life coaching for performing artist. She has conducted personal development seminars and workshops for companies, organizations and individuals to help them eliminate self-defeating behaviors. Her music related projects have included dressing artists for album covers and videos, producing fashion and talent shows, conducting tours to Bay Area recording studios and freelancing as a writer for performing artists. Her clients have included San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, Chevron, Brookside Hospital, San Francisco Renaissance Entrepreneurial Center and The Plant Recording Studio (to name a few). She is on San Francisco State University’s Hospitality Management Advisory Board, a member with the Chamber of Commerce, a former Board of Governor with the Recording Academy (a.k.a. The Grammy's), a Co-Chair for the Urban Outreach Committee with the Recording Academy and a former member of KQED’s Community Advisory Panel. Kelly has a special major degree in Public Relations and Music Business Management from San Francisco State University.
Patricia Bruvry graduated from San Francisco State University with a major in textiles. She received her Master's degree from JFK University in Fiber and Mixed Media. She currently teaches quilting and Surface Design in the Fashion Department at City College and Art at Saint Mark's School in San Rafael. Patricia is a working artist and creates "Art Quilts" that are exhibited nationally.
Deborah Corsini has rejoined the staff of the fashion Department at CCSF to teach the tapestry class. She has enjoyed a lifelong passion, interest and pursuit for weaving, textiles and art making. She has a BFA from California College of Arts & Crafts (now CCA) and a MA from SF State University. Tapestry weaving has remained her primary art technique and she is pursuing her artistic career creating wedge weave tapestries and exhibiting her work nationally. Her tapestries are included in the collections of U.S. Embassies in Sofia, Bulgaria and Astana, Kazakhstan. Her multi-faceted artistic career has spanned a variety of pursuits that include teaching weaving and workshops (Including beginning weaving at CCSF) to owning a small hand crafted business— Woven Silks—in which she wove one-of-a-kind ikat silk scarves, to working as the Creative Director and chief designer for a textile company specializing in fabrics for the quilt market. Currently, she is curator of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.
Brynne Cortez is a native Southern Californian. Her fashion career encompasses sales, marketing, design and fashion event production. Her retail career began in 1985 as a sales associate and then buyer for a small chain of swim wear stores. Brynne graduated high school with special honors from Coastline Community College's Fashion Merchandising Program. After receiving a B. A. from Occidental College in Liberal Studies, Brynne went to work for the Nordstrom family. Her love for travel and cooler climates brought her to San Francisco where she honed her design skills under the tutelage of Spanish designer Celia Tejada. Learning production and patternmaking, she partnered with an associate to from Space Cowgirls, a women's sportswear line celebrating women with curves. Brynne later went on to work for Ellen Tracy as a merchandise specialist at Saks Fifth Avenue. In 1999, she developed "Counter Couture," a five year tradition celebrating independent fashion design in the Bay Area. Brynne teaches at City College as well as the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco.
Ashley J Eriksmoen has been designing and building original wood and upholstered furniture and furnituresque objects for the past 12 years. Though she is new to CCSF as the Upholstery instructor, she has taught classes and workshops in design, furniture, and upholstery at California College of the Arts, Penland School of Crafts, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and Oregon College of Art and Craft. Eriksmoen works both on private commission and on speculation, and shows in galleries and museums nationally. For the past six years, she has had her studio and woodshop in Oakland, California.
Caryne Finlay is an art wear designer and textile artist residing in Livermore. She is a graduate of the University of Kansas (BA, History of Art, 1987). For the past 15+ years, she has designed unique coats and accessories primarily using vintage kimono, obi and textiles from Japan. Her more recent works have incorporated hand dyeing in the centuries old process of shibori. Her award winning work has been juried in to both national and international art wear shows, including the prestigious Bernina Fashion Show for several seasons. Her "Water Coat" is currently part of an international textile display "Art 2 Wear" being displayed in the international wing of the Los Angeles Airport. Caryne has been the recipient of two individual artist grants to pursue her work and received awards not only for the construction/sewing of her pieces (Threads Magazine/PACC "Denim Challenge, 2002" for "Best Garment Construction") but for their art aspect ("Excellence in Artistic Design": Art wear, 2004, Ft. Collins, CO). In 2004, Caryne received the Husqvarna/Viking Sewing Machine Company's "Best in Art to Wear" award at the International Quilt Show in Denhaag, Holland. She has costumed for both the opera and ballet and teaches sewing, surface design and guest speaks for various guilds and organizations. For more information, please visit www.kimonodesign.com.
Paul Gallo began his career at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. He was so into this industry, he was interning on 7th Avenue before he graduated with his degree. He had his first line of clothing by the age of 21 and his designs have appeared in magazines, TV, movies and the web ever since. He has become a master patternmaker, draper and can construct any type of garment. His current company, Gallofornia, is 10 years old and has costumed productions for many Bay Area theatres, designed menswear lines and produced hundreds of custom made outfits for dancers, singers and riff-raff. Paul has had fabulous fashion and gallery shows of his work. He has been teaching 1 or 2 classes a week for 19 years at various colleges and art schools across America. It is his attempt to unleash creativity in his fellow humans and give them technical skills to back up their artistic vision. Having your intrinsic talents become your work for the benefit of all is part of the goal. Paul continues to take on various projects that involve art & fashion and to share that knowledge with people looking to express themselves in the language of clothing.
Durand Guion is the Men's Fashion Director for Macy's West, where he is responsible for forecasting trend and color direction as well as building and maintaining the fashion image for the West Coast Division of Federated Department Stores. As a San Francisco native, Durand has worked for a number of retail institutions including Judy's Merchandising Corporation, I Magnin, The Emporium and The Sharper Image. His wide range of fashion related expertise covers store management, visual merchandising, buying and fashion styling. Durand is a regular contributor to local and national press including Daily New Record, Men's Health, Esquire, The San Francisco Chronicle and The New York Times.
Kamille Hitz graduated from Parsons School of Design with a BFA in Fashion Design. While in school she worked for a women's blouse company, Flatiron Workshop. After graduation, she spent 5 1/2 years as an assistant designer and colorist for Eileen Fisher. She then moved to the Bay area and designed for Travelsmith Outfitters catalog. Outside of CCSF, she currently has her own company in dance and dance clothing.
Judy Jackson has over 25 years of teaching experience in the field of Fashion Design and has taught at many schools including SF State, FIDM, Santa Rosa Junior College and Canada College. She has a Master’s degree from San Francisco State, where her research centered on the design and development of nineteenth century women’s costume. Her interest in costuming has also led to “second career” as a theater costumer and designer. Judy has done free lance work for such Bay Area companies as San Francisco Ballet, Oakland Ballet and Beach Blanket Babylon and has designed costumes for many local theater companies. Judy teaches a wide range of courses in the fashion design curriculum, including Textiles, History of Costume and Tailoring. She considers pattern development to be her particular specialty, teaching flat pattern, computer aided pattern development and grading, draping and historic patternmaking at various Bay Area colleges. She has taught at City College since 1990.
Lisa M Levaggi Rich has had a passion for sewing and designing since the age of 9. Lisa attended the College of Alameda where she received a degree in Apparel Design and Tailoring and Cal State Hayward where she received her B.A. in Liberal Studies with an option in Art Studio. In line with her philosophy of lifelong learning, she has attended numerous conferences, symposiums, seminars and classes to further her knowledge in the field. She is also a member of the Professional Association of Custom Clothiers (PACC). Starting her career Lisa spent 15 years working in the retail sector as a cosmetic color consultant. For the past 15 years she has shared her wealth of knowledge in sewing and design by operating a custom clothing business and teaching a variety of classes at various locations including Pleasant Valley Adult School and Stone Mountain and Daughter fabric store as well as CCSF. Her expertise and motivating nature qualifies her as an outstanding instructor in all aspects of the field.
Carrie Maloney is the founder and President of MUSE bags. She directs all aspects of creative design, operations and marketing for her company. Her professional experience spans the fields of sales and marketing, development, education, fashion and design. MUSE bags can be found in over 23 national high-end boutiques across the country.
Lynda Maynard has been in business for the past 20 years creating haute couture garments for a private clientele. In recent years, she has been creating soft goods for the home in bedding, table linens, window treatments, pillows. She had a short stint (about one year) co‑producing a locally aired cable TV show, Sew Savvy and has went on to produce her own show for another year, Passion For Fashion. Lynda Maynard has been teaching in the bay area for the past eleven years and has a B. A. in home economics from SJSU.
Wendy L. Miller has been sewing for fun and professionally most of her life. She has taught classes at The Sewing Workshop for many years and began teaching at CCSF in 2005. Since 1980 she has owned FRIPPERY, a custom sewing business that provides high‑quality design, patternmaking and sewing services for clothing and home decoration. Wendy has been involved in San Francisco Carnaval as a dancer, costumer and organizer since the mid‑1980's. She has won many costume awards for her work, and has served as a parade judge and on the Carnaval Advisory Committee. She is also a painter, who is currently represented by Spindrift Gallery and Fono on Sutter.
Tina J Siefkes
Rachel M Silverman
Loretta Smith designs under the label Loretta Warner. She owns a Fashion Studio in Berkeley where she sells Fine Knitwear, Wovens and Home Collections; offers Instruction; sells yarn and supplies. Loretta received her B.F.A. in Fashion Design from Lone Mountain College (now University of San Francisco). She has continued her education in Fashion, Knitting, Sewing and Small Business through the great resources available in the Bay Area. Loretta has sold her Collections to the high-end boutiques across the country as part of the Pacific Designer Collection: a group of independent designers selling to the trade biannually in New York City. She is currently designing Collections for private clients. She is the featured artist in the premier issue of Interweave Press Knitscene Magazine (Fall/Winter 05).
Janice Sullivan graduated in Textiles from Boston University and Massachusetts College of Art with a Masters in Art Education. She has been living in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1982, teaching classes in Textiles and exhibiting her work both locally and nationally. She has taught at City College of San Francisco since 1995. In her twenty year study of loom manipulated, multi-tensioned double weave, she has pioneered a new approach to sculptural textiles. Her work is represented in many corporate and private collections across the country including several Kaiser-Permanente Medical Centers, Moody's Investment Services, Quantum Corporation, Summit Medical Center & Southwest Texas Methodist Hospital. Website: www.janicesullivantextiles.com
Lorraine Wilner has been involved in the fashion business for 20 years. She spent 8 years designing knitwear for junior houses in New York and spent 50% of her time developing product in Asia. From 1984 to 1996, she owned Bubble & Squeak, a children's clothing line based in Los Angeles. She was educated at the Boston Museum School in Massachusetts.
Tifani Wilt has been teaching in CCSF since 2002. She graduated from San Diego State University, majored in marketing and minored in merchandising. She has worked 17 years in retail in store management, buying and is currently the Fashion Director for women's accessories, shoes, handbags, lingerie and swim for Macy's West.