The University of Alabama fosters students’ unique interests through programs that support individual growth and exploration. One such program is apparel design, which offers students a focused and comprehensive educational experience in the field of fashion design. The program’s specialized curriculum is designed to nurture creativity, develop technical expertise and prepare students for a wide range of roles in the fashion industry that helps shape legends in the making.

For Laken Thompson, a senior apparel design major at The University of Alabama, fashion has been a part of her life as long as she can remember.

From a young age, Thompson has fond recollections of spending time with her mother at her children’s boutique. “Some of my best memories are of helping her in the store,” Thompson reflects. “If I had a special occasion or an event, I would draw and create what I wanted, even if I didn’t know where to find it.”

After three weeks as a finance major, Thompson found that her heart longed for a creative outlet. Her enthusiasm for design landed her in the College of Human Environmental Sciences where she began to pursue an apparel design concentration in the Department of Clothing, Textiles and Interior Design.

Located in The University of Alabama’s Drummond Lyon Hall, the newly renovated space offers Apparel and Textiles majors access to a Fashion Archive historical garment and textiles collection, a conservation laboratory, exhibition galleries, as well as cutting-edge studio classrooms that inspire and foster creativity. 

The space has become a second home to Thompson, who says she can’t imagine her undergraduate years without the hours of work within that space and the relationships she has formed along the way. “I’ve met so many more people than I ever expected,” she says. “I now have friends from all different states, backgrounds and walks of life.”

Thompson’s field of study has certainly pushed her beyond what she thought she was capable of and into new experiences that often required a leap of faith. Following her sophomore year, she accepted a summer internship at Paul Carroll New York, a small boutique designer based in Brooklyn. “It was far out of my comfort zone,” she says. “It ended up being one of the best experiences of my life. The internship was very hands-on, which you often don’t find in the industry as an intern.”

And now, in her senior year, Thompson reflects back on all of the moments and memories that have shaped her time at UA and have given her an unforgettable undergraduate experience. She plans to use these experiences to continue pushing boundaries in the fashion industry, as well as pushing herself as she continues pursuing her creative ideas and designs.

“It never gets old, seeing something you’ve designed walk down the runway,” Thompson says. “It’s always so amazing, every time. It’s nerve wracking but the second it’s over, you can’t wait to do it again.”