{"id":3227,"date":"2019-08-15T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=3227"},"modified":"2024-02-01T15:39:32","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T20:39:32","slug":"at-the-top-of-her-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2019\/at-the-top-of-her-game\/","title":{"rendered":"At the Top of Her Game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Angela Medlin \u201991 takes the stage in Portland, Ore., in high-heeled boots and a sleek black dress slung casually off one shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The auditorium is packed with creative professionals who\u2019ve come to hear a series of talks by local leaders in the worlds of design, film and publishing. On the big screen behind her are logos for the high-profile brands where Medlin, 51, has made her mark: Adidas, The North Face, Levi\u2019s, Eddie Bauer, and most recently as design director for Jordan apparel at Nike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medlin clicks to an image that seems out of context in this hip, urban setting. It\u2019s a photograph of a run-down shack in the rural south, with broken windows, a sagging front porch and a hen-pecked yard. The picture is \u201calmost identical\u201d to the four-room house in Hamlet, N.C., where she lived as a young girl, Medlin says. The house had no running water or indoor toilet. The walls were stuffed with newspapers for insulation; if you poked your finger through the paper, cold air blew in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But within those walls, she says, Medlin flourished in an atmosphere of \u201ctotal creative freedom.\u201d Her grandparents and teenage mother encouraged her love of drawing and design. They bought her pencils and notebooks from the feed store, and she filled page after page with sketches of faces, figures and Barbie doll fashions. When they didn\u2019t have money for art supplies, she says, \u201cthey gave me a wall to draw on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her family gave Medlin the courage to believe she could accomplish whatever she set her mind to. She\u2019s applied it to her work, from designing urban tees worn by hip-hop icons to helping Air Jordan once again take flight in the mid-2000s. And it\u2019s the message she now brings to her Portland audience, and as a mentor to the next generation of aspiring young designers: Don\u2019t let your dreams be limited by your circumstances. \u201cWhatever box you put yourself in, or somebody else puts you in,\u201d she says, \u201csmash the box.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhatever box you put yourself in, or somebody else puts you in, smash the box.\u201d
\u2013 Angela Medlin<\/p><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nA Badass \u201cDesign Mom\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Wedged between a coffee shop and an artisan leather store in Portland\u2019s edgy Old Town, the Pensole Design Academy is a long way from that four-room house in Hamlet. Described as the world\u2019s first sneaker school, Pensole attracts dozens of promising design students from around the globe who gain real-world experience tackling projects for industry sponsors such as Under Armour, New Balance and Adidas. Classes range from multi-day skills-building workshops to an accredited 12-week design intensive in partnership with the Pacific Northwest College of Art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Medlin joined the faculty in 2017 as founder of the Functional Apparel and Accessories Studio. She describes functional apparel as \u201can extension of the body. It\u2019s apparel that gives athletes their superpowers. It enhances performance to push bodies beyond their natural limitations. It\u2019s the product that keeps everyday consumers cool, warm, dry, comfortable and protected from inclement weather.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The idea for the studio came out of a serendipitous meeting with Pensole creator D\u2019Wayne Edwards, a celebrated sneaker designer and fellow Nike alumnus. After nearly three decades designing for the world\u2019s leading activewear brands, Medlin was ready to share what she\u2019d learned. Edwards saw an opportunity to expand the school\u2019s curriculum beyond footwear to include a full range of functional clothing and accessories. \u201cShe is a talented designer with an amazing career history,\u201d Edwards says. She\u2019s also a \u201cnatural mentor and teacher.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pensole feels like a cross between an industrial trade school and a high-tech start-up. In the cavernous footwear studio, students ranging in age from their late teens to early 30s lounge on black leather furniture or slouch behind laptops at long wooden tables. Like the student body, the \u201cdress code\u201d is decidedly diverse\u2009\u2014\u2009from ripped jeans and hoodies to high-end athletic wear. On one wall, prototype sneakers are displayed like futuristic works of art. An upstairs workshop is filled with industrial sewing machines and bins of brightly colored leather and synthetic fabrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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