Designer Jhane Barnes to speak at Radford University

Radford University welcomes the American Society of Interior Designers Virginia Chapter’s guest speaker, designer Jhane Barnes to campus on Sept. 4.

Barnes is a textile designer with roots in fashion. In 1976 she launched a fashion company with a pair of pants and a $5,000 loan from her Biology professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, according to her website. These stylized men’s pants featured no back pockets and her clientele included John Lennon, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, and John Oates of Hall & Oates.

Later her customer base expanded to Elton John, Robin Williams, John Travolta, Jack Nicholson, Danny Glover, James Earl Jones and Richard Chamberlain.

“In addition to Jhane's pants with no back pockets, Jhane's bag pocket jacket, sport coat blouson, and pleated yoke jackets set her apart early in her career,” her website says.

“In 1980, Jhane won the COTY Award for these unusual details and silhouettes, as well as for her unique fabrics. At age 25, Jhane was the youngest designer to receive a COTY.” COTY stands for the Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards.

In the late 1970s, Barnes began designing textiles with two companies, Knoll and Bernhardt. For these designs she won several International Interior Design Association, Good Design, and Best of Neocon awards.

In 1996, she used a math and technology-driven approach to create a new system for installing modular carpeting. She worked with Tandus to do this.

She will present a lecture at the Bonnie Hurlburt Student Center Auditorium at 6 p.m. For ticket information, visit https://asidvahostsjhane.eventbrite.com.