By Amy Paige Condon
After 23 years of designing couture known for sensual silhouettes and impeccable construction, Angel Sanchez delighted in—and experienced just a little bit of nostalgia—mentoring fashion students for the past nine months at SCAD’s Atlanta campus.
“I found I came here more to learn than to teach,” said Sanchez, who trained as an architect before turning to fashion in his native Caracas, Venezuela. “It took me back to when I started my career…when you don’t know how to edit because your mind is so full of ideas.”
Sanchez arrived in Savannah for SCAD Fashion 2010—the senior fashion design runway show —after hosting his own event the evening before at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York.
Taylor Swift, Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock have worn his vibrant gowns on the red carpet. Stars like Rosalyn Sanchez (no relation) have chosen him to make their wedding dresses.
Sanchez’s training in planning, design and construction is evident in the intricate yet contemporary collections he creates for his evening, bridal and ready-to-wear labels, which are available at high-end retail stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman-Marcus.
Early on, he discovered how his architectural background informed his design aesthetic, from developing the concept to the use of materials. His mother, however, served as his strongest influence.
“She is the best dressmaker,” Sanchez said.
The designer found working with the students refreshing because it helped him rethink his own creative process.
“You help the students develop their own style. And they learn that a beautiful idea cannot be wonderful if you don’t know how to make it,” he said, describing how hard the students worked to take their sketches from the page and turn them into three-dimensional wearable works of art.
Sanchez, who has mentored at the Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, thinks the students he met and worked with in Atlanta are some of the most prepared for work in the industry.
“I feel the quality here at SCAD is strong,” he said.
