The College for Creative Studies (CCS) brings in Rey Pador as associate professor and full-time faculty member overseeing apparel design as part of the College’s fashion design department. Incorporated into the curriculum in June 2022, the apparel design addition represents a major expansion of the college’s offerings to students interested in the craft of fashion design and a more holistic extension of the school’s prestigious accessories design curriculum. Pador’s appointment, which began with the 2022-23 school year, will provide students with vital skills and real-world connections in the upper echelons of high fashion.
A native of Germany, Pador’s career in fashion began with a focus on the craft of dressmaking, gaining technical training through his experiences at Brigitte Kehrer and Holzenbecher Fashion Schools in Stuttgart. In 2012, Pador graduated with a Master’s degree in fashion design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium—a program that cemented itself in the 1980s as one of the formative localities for cutting-edge design. Following in the footsteps of the Academy’s distinguished alumni, Pador has worked for numerous high fashion houses in Antwerp, Paris, New York and Milan. Under his company „GHOST“ he assisted on design concepts for clients such as Marc Jacobs and Dries Van Noten.
“I’m delighted to be at CCS, teaching and engaging with the bright young people who are already jumping into our apparel curriculum,” said Pador. “Fashion today is in need of new energy and new perspectives, and I know many people in the industry who are looking to source exciting talent from outside of the traditional European strongholds. Detroit has a rich history of cultural excellence in its craftwork – it will always be the future when it comes to providing these perspectives.”
Given his formative experience with a traditional dressmaking background, Pador’s work as an educator places a strong emphasis on technical application as the foundation upon which to establish a label and envision a brand. Eschewing an overly conceptual or trend-based understanding of couture, Pador stresses to his students the importance of situating their compositions in craft, and emphasizes the significance of Detroit’s history as a mecca of quality manufacturing. Pador’s recognition of the city’s potential as a site for ateliers drove his emphasis to base himself in Detroit as much as the city’s rich artistic and musical history—cultural exports that strongly influenced his upbringing in Germany. Following teaching positions in Germany, Belgium, India and the U.S.—most recently, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago—Pador has recognized an innate affinity to Detroit in himself, and expects to make the city his home base for years to come.
“It’s been a pleasure to bring Rey Pador into the CCS family,” said the CCS Chair of Fashion Design Aki Choklat. “Rey brings a wealth of experience with him from his time in Antwerp, Stuttgart and Chicago, and he has the passion to translate those skills to his students, both in lectures and the predominantly studio-based structure of his classes. Under his instruction, we expect our students to be hands-on, making and learning from their mistakes as they gain the real-world experience necessary for a career in design.”
Beyond his work with students, Pador continues to evince a formidable career in the world of contemporary fashion as a designer and lead pattern-maker with the brand collective KV Roes. A collaborative design project comprised of professionals within the fashion industry located around the world—including Belgium, Italy, Austria and Mexico—KV Roes represents an exemplary design concept for its emphasis on decentralized collaboration and cutting-edge digital engagement. The brand’s fascination with Generation Z aesthetics, as evinced by a recent collection which premiered during Paris Fashion Week, represents an investment in the future of fashion as much as Pador’s work with the next generation of designers.
