OCC fashion students celebrate the opening of a pop-up boutique, retail laboratory

Ryan Ahadi grew up around clothes. His father owned a suit shop, where young Ahadi would watch fittings and measurements with great interest, while his mother often made homemade clothes for cultural events.

“It’s been around since I was a kid,” 24-year-old resident Aliso Viejo recalls of his early exposure to the craft.

While in high school, Ahadi began learning to design and make his own clothes. But it wasn’t until she enrolled in Orange Coast College’s fashion program that the parts of her career started to click together.

A student of Fashion Design & Merchandising, Ahadi has designed two vintage-inspired streetwear collections with a small group of friends under the brand rêvasser (French word for “dreamy.”)

OCC fashion instructor Michelle Craner, second from left, shared a group high-five with students Wednesday at the opening of the Coast Collective Co-Lab.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“[This program] has taught me how to build something, about the design process, presentation skills and how to display merchandise, forecast trends and build a collection,” he says. “I like it.”

Ahadi is one of several OCC students, alumni and instructors fashion program who are members of the Coast Collective, an initiative that enables entrepreneurs who have created their own brands to sell merchandise at pop-up retail events on the Costa Mesa campus.

Collective members on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of the new effort — the Beach Collective Co-Lab — a retail space that will serve as a “retail laboratory” where students can not only sell merchandise, but also conduct market research for their brands and gain valuable insights into running a business.

Hundreds of students, teachers and alumni gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Orange Coast College Center, where shoppers browsed and purchased items and spoke directly to the designers themselves.

Laura Bonnell, showing off her varsity jacket, bag and sweater, during the opening of the Coast Collective Co-Lab at Orange Coast College on Wednesday.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Lauren Becker, a Department of Fashion professor and program coordinator, said that Co-Lab is extracurricular, but allows students to build on the lessons in class.

“One of our missions in our education system is that we introduce our students to practical applications and real-world experiences — it’s just an extension of that,” he says. “They can take all the theory they learn in class and apply it.”

Wednesday’s vendors include Rebecca Waldron, an OCC fashion alum who graduated in 2003 and returned to campus a few years later to teach fashion illustration.

In 2014, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds Bodomint, a line of trendy yet serviceable diaper bags and accessories for parents on the go. Since then, the brand has expanded to include a wide selection of sizes and embellished, interchangeable straps. Waldron said he would love to be part of the Coast Collective Co-Lab as a student.

OCC alum Rebecca Waldron, who creates a line of fashionable diaper bags under the brand Bodomint, spoke with a customer Wednesday during the opening of a pop-up shop on her Costa Mesa campus.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“I think it’s cool that they can learn the whole process of having a brand, from creating it to bringing it to market and getting people to embrace it,” he said. “That would make a good testing ground.”

The grand opening also featured work by Orange Coast student Alana Poirier, creator of a line of hand-painted clothing called Bright-Eyed. Now 20 years old, Poirier created his first pieces of art as a senior in high school and has been customizing clothing ever since.

“Hopefully this will inspire me to keep doing this,” he said of his pop-up kiosk. “It’s going to be here all semester, so I’ll probably keep adding something to it. I want to include small paintings.”

Artist and OCC student Alana Poirier, showing a pair of hand-painted jeans she made in high school. She is building a brand called Bright-Eyed, which features custom clothing items meant to spark joy and creativity.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Coast Collective Co-Lab will be open to the public Monday through Thursday, from 10am to 4pm, and will feature a rotating set of brands each semester.

Becker said the hope is to eventually open up the area to other departments, to promote the work of students who may have Ahadi’s interests, but in other fields.

“I would love to see sales of ceramics here, or horticulture [students] selling plants,” he said. “It’s meant to be a collaborative space.”

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