Taking part in Camp Fashion Design's sketch/design class, overseen by Hasaan Rozelle (l.), are Madeline Danzberger (center) and Sarah Katz.
Former fashion model Heather Cole is making summer camp a lot more chic.
She has launched Camp Fashion Design, which began its first summer session in the city on July 10. It’s a sister program of Cole’s Modeling Camp, which she started back in the late 1990s.
“There are so many avenues in the world of fashion, and that’s why we did this camp,” Cole says. “You don’t just have to be a model. You could be a designer or a photographer.”
Camp Fashion Design doesn’t come cheap. It’s $999 for what’s billed as an intensive, four-day day program designed to teach teen girls the ins and outs of the fashion biz.
With help from “Project Runway” season four modeling winner Lisa Nargi, Cole is showing her campers what being a fashion designer entails.
The campers range in age from 12 to 17 and come from all over the U.S. and the world. They tour the Garment District and get to meet representatives from top fashion schools and models who have worked in the industry. The girls learn the design process from start to finish.
Campers get sketching lessons from industry professional Hasaan Rozelle, who has worked with DKNY and Perry Ellis. After they learn how to put their ideas on paper, students are shown how to pitch their ideas, pick out fabrics and construct their pieces.
“We’ve been planning this curriculum for a while now,” Cole says, “so to see it come to fruition is a lot of fun.”
It’s hardly Cole’s first summer camp program. Her website claims that 4,500 young women have participated in her programs on a range of subjects, like modeling, fashion and manners. (In 2005, Cole became a certified expert in children’s etiquette.) She runs camps in Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto and Virginia, where it all started.
For Cole, teaching the next generation of models and fashion industry wanna-bes was a career switch that made sense once she became a mom.
She has deep roots in the business. At 18, Cole moved to the U.S. from England and found success as a model. She initiated yet another career in the industry in 1995, when she launched The Model Source, an agency in Virginia. The camps began soon afterward.
“When I got pregnant with my son,” Cole says, “I couldn’t go jet-setting around anymore. The camp was a fun idea that gave me the bulk of the year to be a mom, and summertime was game on.”
The Virginia branch of the fashion camp boasts famous alum Jude Drakeford, who, at age 14, is set to show her first couture collection at this fall’s New York Fashion Week.
While the first session of the New York camp has just come to a close, the second runs July 31-Aug. 3 at the New York Helmsley Hotel.
With Camp Fashion Design, Cole stresses the importance of networking, being easy to work with and carrying yourself well in the industry.
“On ‘Project Runway,’ you have to work with a team,” Cole says. “If you can’t, like Heidi Klum says, ‘You’re out!’ ”
The camp is relatively small in size, with only 17 campers enrolled in the first session. The girls receive personalized attention, and there are more opportunities to ask questions of the famous guest speakers . They include “America’s Next Top Model” contestant Ashley Howard, who dropped by the camp on its inaugural day.
“The most rewarding comment that I get from campers,” Cole says, “is that they feel more confident in themselves. That’s a life skill you can use in any industry, whether you’re a model or designer or lawyer.”
odibs@nydailynews.com
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