Ivan Velasco has taken on the role as Lake Travis High School’s new fashion director for the 25-26 school year, and he is more ready than ever to teach his students everything he can about fashion.
“During the pandemic, I was working on my percussion degree at the University of Houston,” said Velasco, “but when the school shut down, I realized I needed to do something with my hands now that I couldn’t play drums, so I decided to teach myself how to sew.”
Velasco got a job at a dress shop after originally thinking it was an interview for a suit shop, which helped him develop his love for fashion, specifically, women’s clothing and formal wear. Once he decided he was passionate enough to continue fashion as a career, he went to college for it and even became the assistant costume designer for Lone Star College, and finally took his place as a teacher at Lake Travis.
“I come from a family of educators,” said Velasco. “This job was the perfect mixture of teaching and fashion, combining my two loves.”
Velasco enjoys creating things that help people feel beautiful, teaching the women and men here at Lake Travis, and being able to share his passion for fashion and helping people find that spark for it too.
“The best way to teach students about fashion is to have them jump right in and get them sewing as fast as possible,” said Velasco. “There’s no point in me showing them how good I am and how I can do it, what’s important is them learning how to.”
In the class, Velasco teaches his students how to thread a sewing machine, thread a needle, how to create garments, alter garments, tell different materials apart, measure different objects, and the upper levels learn how to have a runway show, prepare for a runway show, and apparel designs.
A current project the upper level fashion students are working on is a flag for the Westlake vs. Lake Travis game.
“We’re going to throw this big flag down the student section,” said Velasco. “And my students are like: ‘How are we going to make a flag?’ and I’m like: ‘Well, we learn that here’.”
Overall, it’s clear that Velasco aims to make a change here at Lake Travis and wants what’s best for every student he has.
“Find something that makes you happy, do it with all of your might, and share love, love others as much as you can and be sure to always bring them up, and dress up every once and a while.”
