Carmela Spinelli '73 - Alumni Spotlight
Carmela Spinelli '73 is an international fashion and design professional with over 20 years of experience in both industry and education. She is a fashion historian and design consultant. Formerly the Chair of the Fashion and Accessory Design Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design, she now travels the globe directing academic and creative projects internationally for SCAD.
Prior to this role she served as Associate Chair of the Department of Fashion Design at Parsons The New School of Design, under renowned chair Tim Gunn. Ms. Spinelli oversaw academic curricular and faculty development, international special projects and internships programs at the premier fashion design institution. She coordinated the department’s History of French Decorative Arts and Fashion study abroad program in conjunction with the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museé des Art Décoratifs in Paris. Carmela also developed special projects for Parsons, partnering with the world’s finest luxury brands, retailers and trade associations including LVMH, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Italian Trade Commission, and Ducatti.
Ms. Spinelli served as an executive with Celine, an LVMH company, merchandising the collection for the US market and directing the flagship store in New York City. As Chief Creative Officer for Three Wildcats, LLC, a retail development firm, she led the creative vision for two new retail concepts with the architectural firm Gensler that garnered two international design awards in 2008 from the Association for Retail Environments: Outstanding Merit in Store Design and Store Fixtures.
Prior to this role she served as Associate Chair of the Department of Fashion Design at Parsons The New School of Design, under renowned chair Tim Gunn. Ms. Spinelli oversaw academic curricular and faculty development, international special projects and internships programs at the premier fashion design institution. She coordinated the department’s History of French Decorative Arts and Fashion study abroad program in conjunction with the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museé des Art Décoratifs in Paris. Carmela also developed special projects for Parsons, partnering with the world’s finest luxury brands, retailers and trade associations including LVMH, Saks Fifth Avenue, the Italian Trade Commission, and Ducatti.
Ms. Spinelli served as an executive with Celine, an LVMH company, merchandising the collection for the US market and directing the flagship store in New York City. As Chief Creative Officer for Three Wildcats, LLC, a retail development firm, she led the creative vision for two new retail concepts with the architectural firm Gensler that garnered two international design awards in 2008 from the Association for Retail Environments: Outstanding Merit in Store Design and Store Fixtures.
Carmela lectures extensively on design, fashion history and the fashion business. She has spoken in Havana, Cuba at the University of San Geronimo, The National Institute of Fashion - Mumbai, The Beijing Institute of Fashion and The China Academy of Art, The Centro de Arte y Cultura - Honduras, The Detroit Design Festival, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in conjunction with the Mayor of London’s culture diversity team and Fashion Forward Dubai, United Arab Emirates. She holds a Master’s Degree in the History of Decorative Art from The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Parsons/The New School for Design. Spinelli received the Lisa Taylor Fellowship from the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum for academic achievement. She is a member of the United States Global Leadership Council and the National Organization of Italian American Women.
While no one seems more astonished at the amazing places her career has taken her than Carmela herself, her family’s merchandising roots certainly planted an innate eye for fashion. The oldest of three, Carmela has fond memories of her father Salvatore’s Ace High Clothing Store and the opportunity to accompany him on several buying trips. She recalls her father’s horror at the denim and work boot trends of the 70’s fashion scene and his complete distaste for her denim overalls as “inappropriate” for a proper young lady.
Carmela recalls her St. Edmund years most fondly, reminiscing about her service on the Yearbook and Prom Committees and participation in the Glee Club which easily fills her head with a soundtrack of Cole Porter songs, pop tunes such as “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head,” and the classics of South Pacific as performed by fellow Tigers in Nazareth High School’s production.
After graduation, she pursued her love of history in her studies at St. Joseph’s College, fully expecting to be a teacher which she was for a few years. It was not what she expected and on a whim, applied for a position in Saks Fifth Avenue which transformed the course of her life. The rest you could say is…history.
Despite the amazing people she has met and the cities to which she has traveled, she remains the fun-loving, down to earth Brooklyn native who seems as astonished by the turns in her life as anyone. She is especially proud to now recognize the influence her parents Salvatore and Paulina have played in her style sense and imagines that her father, looking down from heaven, continues to have admiration for the amazing milestones his daughter has surpassed!
While no one seems more astonished at the amazing places her career has taken her than Carmela herself, her family’s merchandising roots certainly planted an innate eye for fashion. The oldest of three, Carmela has fond memories of her father Salvatore’s Ace High Clothing Store and the opportunity to accompany him on several buying trips. She recalls her father’s horror at the denim and work boot trends of the 70’s fashion scene and his complete distaste for her denim overalls as “inappropriate” for a proper young lady.
Carmela recalls her St. Edmund years most fondly, reminiscing about her service on the Yearbook and Prom Committees and participation in the Glee Club which easily fills her head with a soundtrack of Cole Porter songs, pop tunes such as “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head,” and the classics of South Pacific as performed by fellow Tigers in Nazareth High School’s production.
After graduation, she pursued her love of history in her studies at St. Joseph’s College, fully expecting to be a teacher which she was for a few years. It was not what she expected and on a whim, applied for a position in Saks Fifth Avenue which transformed the course of her life. The rest you could say is…history.
Despite the amazing people she has met and the cities to which she has traveled, she remains the fun-loving, down to earth Brooklyn native who seems as astonished by the turns in her life as anyone. She is especially proud to now recognize the influence her parents Salvatore and Paulina have played in her style sense and imagines that her father, looking down from heaven, continues to have admiration for the amazing milestones his daughter has surpassed!
