Kathleen Coughlin, or Kay, as she likes to be called, walks into her fashion classroom and greets her seventh period students with a “Hello Fashionistas!” Setting her papers down and putting her glasses on, she is ready to get down to serious business. Coughlin circulates the room, checking on and talking to any student that asks for help, until she reaches the back where her “two” girls, students who have been taking fashion for more than one year, are working. She analyses their work and listens to their ideas, throwing in suggestions and joking around as she does so. She then takes two students to the back of the room to show them how to use the very complicated threading machines to do an assignment for her.

“She is an amazing teacher. She communicates very well with all of her students,” says one of the girls Coughlin was helping, junior Emma Zivkovic.

At any given moment in Coughlin’s fashion class, several projects are all going on at the same time. The room is buzzing with conversation and the sound of sewing machines, and at least two students are calling for Coughlin at the same time.

“It’s an organized chaos,” Coughlin says.

“My fashion style? A little bit of everything. I like to use things that are opposite, like something that is textured and smooth or something that’s not known to go together,” Coughlin says as she sits wearing a brown, long-sleeved tunic, a cream Marc Jacobs skirt, and tall, lace-up, chestnut boots from Lord & Taylor.

You may ask: is this really important? The answer is yes, of course. She’s a fashion teacher. What she wears is both important to her and her students.

This is only her second year as the Niles West fashion teacher, but Coughlin does it like a pro.

“I love this subject. I love design. I love creating,” she says.

The first-year students in the front of the classroom are working on their portfolio. It is a series of small projects involving elements of design, sketching, and body shapes, all put together. It is something that students will add to constantly and eventually show potential colleges. Coughlin, knowing that making a portfolio is important for students that want to pursue a career in fashion, made this her key priority when she became the fashion teacher.

After working as the manager on the seventh floor of Carson Pirie Scott and then at a suburban store in Oak Park, Coughlin got a call to teach at Oak Park High School. Having studied family services and family and consumer science in Eastern IL and business education in graduate school, she was more than qualified. She then taught at Riverforest and, 12 years ago, became part of the Niles West Wolves.

When asked how she became the Niles West fashion teacher, Coughlin laughs and says, “the other one quit.” She then returns to her serious composure again and adds, “I wanted to. I asked to.”

Coughlin enjoys teaching fashion for a variety of reasons.

“I like that [fashion] is so hands on and our learning is differentiated… I love seeing students develop and watching every one grow is very interesting, and I like working with young people,” Coughlin said.