The first swallows

Link: https://panorama.shymkala.kz/.../item/5771-pervye-lastochki

Tashenev University prepares students for new creative educational programs.
Shymkent designer Irina KIM creates not only models of clothes. She developed new educational programs in which she brought together designers and design technologists. Thanks to her efforts, the Shymkent light industry will soon receive new-formation specialists who will be able to develop and launch clothing for the masses with designer elements.
The President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart TOKAEV paid special attention to the issue of quality education. He noted that increasing the material motivation and professional qualifications of teachers, supporting talented children, building new schools, developing national science are the few things that need to be worked out to create a strong foundation for quality education in Kazakhstan.
Irina KIM, head of the Art and Design Department of Shymkent University named after Zh. Tashenev, master, fashion designer, member of the Shymkent Designers Association and the Eurasian Designers Union, has developed a qualitatively new educational program, which she called Fashion Industry. According to her, this includes not only the creation of clothes, but everything related to the world of beauty.
“We create products and we have to think through the whole look: hair, makeup, accessories and so on. We have included this program in the register, and now our university students are completing their first year of this educational program. The program is designed for five years of study. During this time, our students will study 83 disciplines, of which only a third are general education, the rest capture style, image, beauty, defile. But most importantly, we will teach you how to think creatively, develop and implement your brand. When I was studying, we were taught only to think creatively. That is, we create a model, and that's it. We did not think what to do with it and why we are creating it. And I created the educational program in such a way that the student knows that it is necessary not only to create, but also to sell the product so that he can earn money. And develop your brand. To do this, we need to learn, that is, we even capture a little advertising, ”says the designer.
She dreamed of becoming a designer since childhood. In the Kazakh-Turkish University named after Yasawi in 1996, the Department of Clothing Design was opened, where Irina entered and successfully completed her studies. After that, she worked at the College of Sewing Workers No. 5, where she received knowledge of a slightly different nature.
“There were production masters who sewed at the Voskhod factory. They were very strict and demanding, techies, garment workers. I was assigned to such a strong teacher Irina Viktorovna Abashova, she still works there. And there was production equipment, its own technology for working on it. I learned how to work on industrial equipment. It was a good practice, as we sewed a lot, created collections. But the vocational school lacked a creative zest. Therefore, in the very first year of my work, I organized the Spring and Fashion contest. In the first year, my students only sewed aprons. But who said that aprons cannot be sewn from a design point of view? And we created them in the form of fruits, vegetables. The girls themselves dressed them and showed them on the podium. And then all the courses began to participate in this competition. This competition took root and exists to this day,” says Irina.
For this idea, for the excellent organization of the competition, she was awarded by the then regional akim Bolat Zhylkyshiyev.
Irina also tried to open her own business, but all the time a successful start ended in nothing for objective reasons. The first time she was unable to continue working due to the birth of a child, and the second time the pandemic prevented her from working. The wedding salon, where exclusive chic dresses for newlyweds were created, had to be closed.
But now a talented designer has many opportunities at Tashenev University. Here, with the support of the president and the rector of the university, a business incubator was opened and conditions were created for students. But most importantly, they are taught specialties that will be able to feed them in the future.
“I worked both in the technical field and in the design field. The problem is that the clothing industry in Kazakhstan cannot reach the international level. They work only for the domestic market, "sit" on tenders, they cannot compete with Turkey or China. And our designers go in a separate branch - they create associations, create exclusive things, participate in competitions. And now in my dissertation I reflect that we need to create such educational programs that will help unite designers and technical specialties, for example, such as “Technology and design of light industry products,” the teacher says.
Now she is developing such programs where the student can not only think creatively, but also how a techie could implement it in a large production for the general consumer, but with a designer twist.
“In order for us to achieve import substitution, we need to create our own unique products. All directors and technologists of garment production say that there is a problem with designers and artists in the city, since they cannot create clothes for the average consumer, the broad masses. Clothing should be relatively cheap, interesting, beautiful. That is, the designer-technologist should work in tandem with the designer,” the designer emphasized.
The Fashion Design & Textile Innovation program developed by Irina Kim is a collaboration between techies and designers. The teacher believes that such specialists should come to domestic production who would create ready-to-wear - ready-made clothing models supplied by large fashion designers for mass production, but with a design bias. Such first swallows-students finish the first course this year.