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News Release

Last modified: Tuesday, March 31, 2009

UK fashion designer Julian Roberts to visit IU this weekend

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The Indiana University Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design will host United Kingdom fashion designer Julian Roberts, the department's 2009 Bill Blass Fashion Design Seminar Series speaker, this weekend (Friday, April 3-Saturday, April 4) at IU Bloomington.

Roberts has shown 13 collections at London's Fashion Week and serves as a consultant to the BBC. Currently, he develops his own collections, designing both the form and the engineered surface designs. His production company, JULIANAND, is considered a leader in defining the visual identity of the 21st century. JULIANAND produces films, Web sites and graphics.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring Mr. Roberts to IU to share his exciting and innovative design concept," said Kate Rowold, a professor in the Retail Design and Merchandising Group and curator of The Sage Collection. "His avant- garde perspective and risk-taking technique will open our students' eyes to a whole new approach to fashion design."

IU brings Roberts to the U.S. through the California-based Center for Pattern Design to share his innovative method of shaping a flat piece of fabric to human dimensions with beauty and expression.

"Mr. Roberts has pioneered spontaneity in clothing design in a way never before conceived. He has made it possible to conceive of covering the body by subtracting from the cloth the space that the body occupies," said Rowold. "His lectures, demonstrations and workshops embody the global zeitgeist that now requires that we look at every activity in a new way in order to meet future challenges."

During his visit to IU, Roberts will present a free, open-to-the-public lecture, "Fashion Design through Subtraction Cutting," Friday, April 3, from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the Georgian Room of the Indiana Memorial Union.

He will also conduct a two-day workshop for advanced students in the Fashion Design Certificate program in the department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design.

Roberts's lecture and workshop are made possible through the Bill Blass Fashion Design Seminar Series established in 2002 with a bequest from fashion designer Bill Blass, a native Hoosier and friend of Indiana University. The Bill Blass Fashion Design Seminar Series is presented and hosted by the department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design and the College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information about IU's Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior design, see https://www.design.iub.edu/.

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