Inside Auburn University's AMDA: The Creation of Rising Designers

Written by: Avery Welch

Photography by: Zeke Barrera

Fashion is self-expression; it is an art that allows real-world issues to be conveyed through clothing and worn by many. Sydnee Johnson, a junior in Auburn University’s nationally ranked apparel design program, embodied this mantra when she took her experience of being trapped in the crowd at the Travis Scott “Astro World” tragedy and designed a piece that encapsulated raw human emotion.

“I think you first have to realize [how] you feel, and if you realize it, you can either let it consume you, or you can do something about it,” Johnson continued, “and so that's when I sketched out my design.”

Johnson and a group of friends had flown down to Houston to attend the event in November of 2021. She struggled with the memories long after but channeled those heavy emotions into a two-piece skirt ensemble with intention.

As Johnson’s story illustrates, Auburn University’s program goes beyond just needle and thread; it supports the fruitful art and passion of rising designers.

The path to becoming a successful designer requires nothing less than hard work and dedication. Within Auburn’s program, you will find students from multiple walks of life who possess individuality. The courses offered work to educate students on every aspect of the industry, with professors that lead in an admirable way. This diverse and supportive environment fosters creativity and dedication, making the program truly deserving of its high national ranking.

In 2013, Fashion-Schools.org released its first report ranking fashion schools in the United States. Auburn ranked 20th out of the top 75 schools. Since then, Auburn has remained among the top three in the South and among the top 20 schools in the United States. Auburn University ranks among private colleges such as The New York Fashion Insitute of Technology and Savannah College of Art and Design and stands out because it is a public school that offers more than just skill-focused classes.

Apparel design program coordinator Karla Teel has witnessed the program grow and evolve to become a leading program in the field of fashion design. She attended Auburn University in the ’90s and has been a professor in the program for 18 years. When Professor Teel attended Auburn, the department was named Consumer Affairs. Since then, it has evolved into Consumer and Design Sciences and has expanded to make sure that students are learning leading-edge stuff.

“We start the students off with learning the fibers, the yarns, the fabric, and then take them through the whole process,” said Professor Teel. Inside Spidle Hall, students learn about the industry in traditional classrooms while also getting experience working with fabrics in a studio environment.

“We dive into how to make, spread, cut, and sew the fabric, how to design it into something, how to source manufacturing or fabrics, and how to do forecasting, etc,” said Professor Teel.

Auburn’s program is a desirable top choice for incoming fashion students because the university also provides students with sports and other professional majors.

This aspect appealed to Junior Luke Johnson, a student in the program. Originally from Denver, Colorado, Luke had his mind set on fashion design and chose Auburn for the program. He decided to double major in Finance his sophomore year and is also an active member of a fraternity.

The look at a male perspective in a predominantly female major was refreshing, informative, and inspiring. Johnson works to make the most out of his college career while staying true to who he is as a person, and who he is as an artist.

“I think you have to know who you are and what your vision is because people don't know your vision; people don't see anything that goes on in your head,” Johnson said. He continued, “I think it's important to know where you are, know what you want, and just try to get closer to it a little bit every single day.”

The Apparel Merchandising and Design Association, AMDA, is an organization affiliated with Auburn’s Department of Consumer and Design Sciences within the College of Human Sciences. There are two different undergraduate majors offered in the Department of Consumer and Design Sciences, one being apparel merchandising and the other being apparel design and production management. Students inside of these majors can join AMDA, where they are provided with opportunities for professional development and networking among individuals in the industry.

In 2011, AMDA hosted the first ever Fashion Event showcasing students’ designs. Held in the Greystone mansion with a budget of $300, it started out with only students who attended. Since then, the event has grown and moved into the Beard-Eaves Coliseum, hosting more than 900 people. The event helps to raise funds for the growth of the program, and this year AMDA celebrated the 12th Annual Fashion Event with the theme The XIIth Hour.

There are two separate courses associated with the Fashion Event that students embark on to prepare for the show. The fashion event planning class, CADS 3970, is a year-long course involved with the technical side, where students must organize and plan the event. The other course, CADS 5750, is a capstone class focused on the steps the designers must take to generate a design and bring it to life for the runway.

The fashion event planning class holds roughly 20 selected students assigned to multiple different committees such as modeling, styling, decorations, social media, lookbook, and more. Senior Emma Williams, an apparel merchandising major, was a member of the modeling committee.

“We meet every Monday and Wednesday with the entire class to help plan the show altogether.” Williams continued, “We all came up with the theme, the name, and the general idea of the show.”

The program welcomed the rest of Auburn’s student body to contribute to the event as well. Designers and models across campus, not a part of the apparel majors, were able to submit garments to be showcased in the show and audition to walk the runway.

“We hosted the casting call for all the models to try out, then we selected the models, fit them with garments, and guided them throughout the show,” said Williams.

In the capstone course, Junior Elena Aukamp, a member of AMDA and a designer in the 2023 Fashion Event, explained that students are required to come up with either a designer, an extension of a brand, or a designer collaboration with their assigned group.

“So for instance, my group is doing Harley Davidson and Dior, and we pretty much have to go into all the different elements of technical design and then actually design pieces and make sure they're all a part of the cohesive collection that also matches the aesthetic of both the brands,” said Aukamp.

Junior Sophia Ventura, a member of Aukamp’s capstone group, designed a bold yet elegant male garment.

“My favorite [garment] that I designed was through this Harley Davidson-Dior collab.” Ventura continued, “I think it's because the two brands are so different, it was something nobody expected, it’s so opposing.”

Aukamp and Ventura’s capstone group, consisting of three other designers, ended up winning Best Capstone Collection in Show. There are multiple sides to the design process that people may not be aware of. Creativity and knowledge of technicality go hand-in-hand.

“Capstone is probably the most technical design class there is just because of all the stuff you have to do with the spec packs, which is essentially figuring out the cost of all the fabric and how much fabric exactly you use and how much that costs. You then have to calculate how much thread is used and how much that thread would cost. It's pretty much what is turned into manufacturers to manufacture actual garments,” said Aukamp.

The fashion event planning and capstone class demonstrate how Auburn’s program has come to prepare its students with real-life work that can be applied after they leave school and enter the industry.

“Overall, we have many dedicated and very intelligent professors that are highly invested in our students. [The fashion event planning class] is a two-hour course and I spend way more than two hours a week on it. Because I want them to learn, I want them to succeed, and I want the event to succeed because that is the face of our program,” said Professor Teel.

Ideas inside the capstone class turned tangible as students finished up their garments for the event. They celebrated the theme of finding harmony in opposing ideas through the elements of their designs. Phoenix, the garment created by Sydnee Johnson, illustrates this idea and won Best Design in Show in the 2023 Fashion Event due to its powerful story and message.

“The whole thing was chaotic from the start,” she said, “there were policemen on horses and people with fence cutters cutting the fences down, breaking in without tickets.”

Surrounded by stages, people, and barricades, there was only one way out. In the five-minute interval between when the clock came out and started counting down, the crowd began to push forward.

“We thought they were making a mosh pit, and that the pressure would release once everyone jumped in the middle, but it never did,” said Johnson. The next thing she described was horrifying and is ultimately what gave life to her design.

“We were so squished together, that we started rising and couldn’t move, and my feet weren't on the ground.” Johnson continued, “There were people underneath me who had fallen and I… I blacked out a hundred percent.”

“When Travis finally came out, there was this mountain. And this bird, the phoenix, came up on the mountain, and then pillars of fire shot up and it was so hot.” Johnson continued, “And all I remember feeling and thinking was, I feel like I'm in hell. And that's the last thing I remember, that bird up on that mountain.”

The restraining fit of the corset represents the suffocation she felt while in the crowd. The black pigment represents the emotions of depression, but the use of color on the back of the skirt brings light and represents the tail of the phoenix, where red and orange flow down the garment to the floor.

“The phoenix lives for 500 years is what the legend says, and then it burns itself up, dies, and the new one is born.” Johnson continued, “I would never want to go through it again, but I'm grateful for the experience because it taught me to not take my life for granted.”

The realistic nature of fashion shines through in the story behind the design, and the story behind the creation of the designer. The creative freedom it takes to generate a design that holds such power is supported and encouraged in Auburn’s program. The professors lead students in a way that carves the path for Auburn’s apparel design program to continue to grow and be the home of designers rising from the ashes.