Lauren Bean-Class of 2010

Fisher College's campus puts you in the heart of one of the most beautiful parts of the city. This is one of many attributes that attracted me to the college. I wanted to move to the city but I was also looking for a smaller school. Fisher's small class sizes make it easy for me to form close-knit relationships with both my professors and fellow students. I get involved and receive invaluable support in my academics.

The professors are truly passionate about teaching. The class Psychology of Women with Professor Susan Jordan is just one of many classes that fascinated me. Professor Jordan and I shared the most interesting discussions, both during and after class. It was a subject that I clearly connected with as a Fashion Merchandising student.

My most frequented off-campus spot would have to be the Charles River Esplanade. The park runs along the river behind the Fisher campus. When the weather is nice, it's a serene location for relaxing, studying in the sunshine, watching the local college crew teams, and waving to the tourists in the Duck Boats as they pass by. During the winter months, my friends and I like to visit the Public Garden to witness the tree
lighting ceremony, listen to holiday music, and skate on the ice at Frog Pond.

Fashion Merchandising Faculty

Professor Emily Banis Stoehrer, Program Director, Fashion Design and Merchandising

Prior to joining Fisher in 2010, Professor Emily Banis Stoehrer was a Curatorial Research Associate at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A trained fashion and textile historian, she received a master's degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.  She is currently working towards her PhD in Humanities at Salve Regina University.

In addition to teaching she is just completing her first book, Fashion Design, Referenced (co-authored with Alicia Kennedy) and writes a fashion column for the local lifestyle magazine, Exhale. She has also contributed articles to Adornment, Art Jewlery Forum, and the Textile Society of America Newsletter.

Her personal research interests focuses on 19th and 20th century fashion, fashion theory, and the fashion system.  Her academic pursuits have led her to give academic papers as far away as Colonial Williamsburg and the University of Rouen in Normandy, France. She also lectures locally at various museums, guilds, and historical societies, but the classroom remains her favorites place to talk about new discoveries.

Prof. Stoehrer is thrilled to be working with such a diverse student body at Fisher College. As program director for fashion design and merchandising, she teaches course in textiles, costume history, and visual merchandising, bringing students to area retailers and museums to make the experience inside the classroom come to life.

She also enjoys traveling with students to New York to visit archives, industry insiders, showrooms, and retailers to provide an in depth look at the fashion and design business. Next spring she will travel with a group of fashion students to Paris to provide students with an international perspective of an increasingly global industry.

With fashion moving so quickly in the 21st century you never know what's going to happen next. Keep up with the fashion department by "liking" the Fisher College Fashion Club on Facebook.

Professor Karen A. Myers teaches the following courses in the Fashion Merchandising Program: Retail Buying, Retail Management, Topics in Fashion: International Retail Management, Fashion Advertising and Sales Promotion, and the Fashion Internship Course.

"Fashion is very important. It is life-enhancing and, like everything that gives pleasure, it is worth doing well."
-Vivienne Westwood

While sharing Professor, and Program Director, Teresa Howe's interest in every aspect of "the creative expression" of fashion, I have a varied approach. The business aspects of fashion intrigue me. With undergraduate and graduate degrees in business and years of teaching experience, it is my delight and pleasure to share the "business" that is fashion with Fisher College Fashion Merchandising majors.

The contemporary retail environment is exciting and complex. Along with nurturing the students' creative side, our future retailers, buyers and merchandise managers require knowledge of economics, manufacturing, marketing, management, accounting, business law, operations, technology, e-commerce, human resources and the global interdependence of business. Making sure that our students have a solid understanding of, and appreciation for, the business environment of fashion is my task and my goal.

While acquiring business knowledge and acumen in the classroom, Fisher students can also choose to intern in the fashion capital that Boston has become. In my role as the fashion internship supervisor, I work with students and their on-site supervisors at fantastic retail organizations such as Armani, Betsey Johnson, Bloomingdales, Chanel, Escada, Gucci, and Talbots. Additionally, entrepreneurial talent from the Boston area guest lecture in my classes and allow us to visit while they share first-hand experience with the Fisher fashion majors.

Along with my students, it is a joy to continue to learn and grow in understanding of the mode and tempo of retailers in the twenty-first century.

Industry Web sites

• The Fashion Center
• LeRage.com
• Style.com
• FashionCareerFairs.com

Industry Publications

• Women's Wear Daily
• DNR, Daily News Record (Men's Wear)
• Sportswear International, Sport & Street
• Apparel Industry Magazine
• Apparel Manufacturer
• California Apparel News