Couture Pattern Museum Expands Educational Series with Solstiss, Stockman Masterclasses

Couture Pattern Museum Expands Haute Couture Educational Programming Digitally and In Person

SANTA BARBARA, CA, UNITED STATES, May 19, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Couture Pattern Museum in Santa Barbara, CA is expanding its educational programming with masterclasses featuring key French heritage brands behind haute couture. Following its debut field trip and lace masterclass with Solstiss USA, the museum will next host Stockman Paris, the iconic mannequin maker used by couture houses for over a century.

In May, museum members traveled to downtown Los Angeles for a private tour of Solstiss USA, led by President and CEO François Damide. Solstiss is known globally for producing authentic Leavers lace for clients including Chanel, Dior, and Valentino. Prior to the tour, Damide gave an exclusive lecture at the museum detailing the history and production of French lace and the continued use of 100-year-old Leavers looms, which remain irreplaceable in today’s global textile economy.

Attendees included professional designers, hobby sewists, and cultural figures from Santa Barbara, Beverly Hills, Long Beach, Orange County, and Pico Rivera. As a nod to French heritage, each guest received a madeleine from museum founder Cara’s Austine-Rademaker's picnic basket—referencing Marcel Proust, who might have seen Leavers lace on the aristocracy at the Ritz. “It’s surreal to think these same lace machines were running during Proust’s lifetime,” she said.

Next in the series, the museum will host Stockman Paris for a virtual masterclass on June 18 titled “Body and Forms: The History of the French Mannequin.” The session will explore the evolution of the dress form in fashion design and its role in haute couture. Stockman forms have been used to drape many of the patterns in the museum’s own archive.

Part of the museum’s Community Connections series, the class is free to all members or via a $25 one-time access fee.

For more information or to join, visit www.couturepatternmuseum.com.

Reginald Parker
Couture Pattern Museum
+1 805-303-4775
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