On Thursday, November 30, Academy of Art University's Fashion School will host a fashion industry panel discussion with designers, journalists and retail executives. This panel will address the student body and answer questions. Executive Director Gladys Perint Palmer, also a journalist, will moderate.

The panel will include: fashion designers Laura and Kate Mulleavy of Rodarte; and Joe Haller and Ian Hannula of Nice Collective. Journalists Christine Suppes, editor in chief, FashionLines.com; Melissa Ceria, journalist and co-founder of ShareYourLook.com; and Donna Kato, fashion and style editor, San Jose Mercury News. Retailers Wilkes Bashford of The Wilkes Bashford Company; and Susan Foslien of stores Susan and The Grocery Store.

Kate and Laura Mulleavy founded Rodarte in the fall of 2005. After bringing their first collection of 10 pieces to New York City, they found themselves on the cover of WWD and in a meeting with Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue. They followed up their first season with a 16-piece collection, which won them the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Award, and continued to gain support from retailers including the likes of Bergdorf Goodman, Colette, and Maxfield. Following their third collection, they were nominated for the CFDA Swarovski Perry Ellis Award and the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund.

In 1996, Joe Haller and Ian Hannula launched Nice Collective as a creative outlet including a club night, record label, DJ agency and clothing line. This season's collection consists of 100 different pieces comprised of 80% men's and 20% women's. Celebrity clients Chris Martin of Coldplay for his entire tour, Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor for his summer tour, and Brad Pitt in the upcoming film Babel.

Wilkes Bashford received an honorary doctorate from the University, as one of our "Men of Fashion" at the May 2006 graduation fashion show. He is credited as the man who "made Sutter Street" with his successful flagship store and hailed by Esquire Magazine as "The Most Important Men's Fashion Specialist in the Country." His awards include Cutty Sark Award for the Best Men's Store, Uomo Moda Collections Award for Italian Menswear in America, and the Hall of Fame of the International Best Dressed List. The Wilkes Bashford Company operates four upscale retail stores with annual sales in excess of $30 Million.

Susan Foslien opened Susan of Burlingame in the fall of 1983. Today she has four stores Susan and The Grocery Store - located in both Burlingame and San Francisco. She has developed a loyal client following by selling Jean Paul Gaultier, Romeo Gigli, Jill Sander, Prada and Balenciaga.

In addition to being a celebrated jewelry designer and published author, Christine Suppes is one of the few San Francisco journalists to attend Paris Haute Couture as publisher and editor in chief of Fashionlines.com. Launched in 1999, Fashionlines was the first purely editorial fashion e-magazine encompassing national and international coverage with editorial staff based in New York, Paris, Sao Paulo, and California. Created with the firm belief that fashion and art are intertwined, Fashionlines covers top galleries, artists, photographers and writers.

A new online fashion game based on "Fashion Frenzy," the ninth book in the award-winning Beacon Street Girls (BSG) book series, helps girls further explore the exciting world of fashion design and styling. Unlike most fashion-oriented online games, the "Fashion Frenzy" game allows budding designers to do more than dress up a figure. With "Fashion Frenzy," players actually help create the apparel options by picking out different fabrics, colors and prints. They also get the opportunity to act as a fashion stylist, accessorizing the outfits. There are thousands of combinations possible.

Most online fashion games simply allow girls to choose apparel from a very limited closet. Unlike these "dress up" games, "Fashion Frenzy" players select among dozens of style options for tops, pants, skirts, jackets and dresses. Then they choose the fabrics, colors and prints, to finish each piece of clothing. Once an outfit has been created, the player dresses Katani Summers, the BSG fashionista, and chooses a photo background. Taking a turn as a fashion stylist, the player then rounds out the look with accessories like scarves, headbands, jewelry, hats and headpieces, footwear and handbags, including bags and purses from the Beacon Street Girls collection (available online at http://www.bsgshop.com ) When the ensemble has been completed, players receive feedback and commentary from Katani, and can email the whole look to a friend.

In addition, true to the upbeat and optimistic messages communicated through the Beacon Street Girls literature, the "Fashion Frenzy" game offers positive role models for girls. "While shows like 'Project Runway' and 'America's Top Model' have been enormously popular with the preteen girls because they offer a behind-the-scenes look at the world of fashion, they sometimes perpetuate the negative tone enlightened adults have come to associate with the world of fashion," said Addie Swartz, founder and CEO of B*tween Productions, home of the Beacon Street Girls. "'Fashion Frenzy' provides girls with a chance to play with fashion in a fun, supportive environment."

Swartz continued, "In addition, the game offers the opportunity for true fashion experimentation. In the fashion industry innovation often springs from un-expected pairings and combinations. The juxtaposition of different colors and patterns can be quite exciting. The huge number of style combinations 'Fashion Frenzy' offers makes this possible."