Lab-wide Lecture

Tishman Auditorium at 12:45pm
66 West 12th Street



Laboratory Panel Discussion : the New Fashion
April 5th, 2012


About the Panelists:


Nadia Williams
As a graduate of the Parsons BFA Fashion Design department, Nadia began her career designing
for Gap Kids, and freelancing for companies such as Old Navy and Banana Republic. Shortly after,
Nadia moved to Mexico City, where she developed an independent line of clothes and accessories,
which was sold in various cities in Mexico, as well as in Amsterdam and New York. While in
Mexico, Nadia helped establish the nonprofit Fábrica Social, which aims to empower groups of
indigenous female artisans as a result of collaborations that build on traditional artisan processes
with contemporary design techniques.


In addition to continuing these artisan collaborations, Nadia currently explores social justice issues
through her work as an instructor in the Parsons Pre-College Academy and as Interim Director of
the Parsons Scholars Program, which is a college prep program for youth from NYC public schools.
She also explores oral history as a tool to give voice to historically silenced communities, such as
through her current collaboration with the Brooklyn Historical Society as an interviewer for the
project Crossing Borders, Bridging Generations, which explores the history and experiences of
mixed-heritage people and families in Brooklyn.


Timo Rissanen is the Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Sustainability at Parsons The New
School for Design. His position entails identifying opportunities for implementing sustainability
into the four degree programs in the School of Fashion. Prior to Parsons he taught fashion design
at UTS in Australia for seven years. From 2001 to 2004 he owned and designed for Usvsu, a
menswear label in Sydney, selling to retailers in Australia, Italy and Russia. His PhD project is
titled Fashion Creation Without Fabric Waste Creation and Rissanen presented a collection of
menswear from the project in Bad Dogs, a solo exhibition in Sydney in 2008. In 2009 he co-curated
Fashioning Now in Australia with Alison Gwilt. A book drawing from the project, titled Shaping
Sustainable Fashion, was published by Earthscan in 2011. In 2011 he co-curated Yield, a travelling


exhibition of zero-waste fashion design with Holly McQuillan. Rissanen has presented at several
international conferences and contributed a chapter to Sustainable Fashion. Why Now? in 2008.


Professor Joshua Katcher teaches ethical and sustainable fashion at the Laboratory Institute of
Merchandising (LIM College) in Manhattan. His lectures on ethical fashion have taken him to
Parsons University, Brown University, The American University of Paris, along with many fashion
organizations, conferences and festivals. Katcher’s classroom has become an essential stop-over for
many leading voices in the sustainable fashion world for special guest speakers like Nigel Barker
and John Bartlett. Katcher founded The Discerning Brute as a resource for men who want to make
intelligent decisions concerning their lifestyles. With a focus on “fashion, food & etiquette for the
ethically handsome man”, The Discerning Brute produces expert, essential content and boldly
takes a stand.


Joshua has been getting some notable notoriety for his efforts:
• The Wild Magazine “Katcher is a modern day hero in the making…”
• W Magazine: “Joshua Katcher, the force behind The Discerning Brute”
• Oprah.com: “Vegan superstar Joshua Katcher”
• VegNews Magazine: “Ethical Style Icon”
• Full Frontal Fashion: “…involved in seemingly endless — and ultimately inspiring — projects, is
proof that believing in what you do, and being dedicated to a cause, will get you everywhere”