Marianne Dickson Oral History Interview, March 10, 2023

Partial Transcript: Do you want to give a brief introduction of yourself, state the name and date.

Segment Synopsis: Interviewer and interviewer introduce themselves.

Partial Transcript: I will read to you the verbal consent.

Segment Synopsis: Interviewer reads verbal consent form to Marianne Dickson and Dickson consents to the interview.

Partial Transcript: To start, can you tell me about your childhood? Where did you grow up and what was that like?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson was born in 1980 in Bethesda, Maryland. Her father was in the marines when she was born, stationed there. She grew up there until she was three years old, her father left the military and her family moved back to Elgin, Illinois so they could be closer to family. She had an older brother, and a younger sister that she grew up with. When she was eight years old her parents separated but they stayed in Illinois. In high school she played volleyball, earning herself a few college offers that she turned down, instead deciding to go to design school.
Dickson grew up watching her mom sew, laying out fabric across the tables and making long curtains for the windows. Her mom gave her fabric scraps to play with and make creations on the sewing machine. She recounts reaching a point where she was on her mom's sewing machine more than her mom. She learned to make little doll clothes and started to create clothing.
Her high school offered sewing classes where she excelled. She was able to take this class all four years, sew her own clothing, and put on a fashion show. By her junior year of high school she knew that she wanted to go to design school.

Partial Transcript: How did you end up at the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson was the first person in her family to go to college, and finishing high school was a challenging time for her. Her mom had gone through a divorce and lost her job. Dickson had to get a part time job and help raise her younger sister. Dickson was receiving offers to play volleyball at colleges, but she didn't think that she would be able to move far away and leave her younger sister behind. She decided that she would be able to attend the International Academy of Design and Technology in Chicago, and commute in every day from the suburbs.
Attending design school, Dickson immediately felt like she belonged and she had found her place. She was working amongst her peers that had similar passions. Her sophomore year of college she was offered the chance to show her designs at a Chicago Elite fashion show, winning herself the Richard Dreihause Award for Fashion Excellence. While she was in school, she had to commute into the city for school, getting up early to catch the 5:50 am train. She spent her free time between classes knitting and beading. Some of her professors noticed her knitting, and one of them helped her get a knitting internship. Dickson interned for a family owned company that manufactured knit goods in house.

Partial Transcript: How did you end up at OSU for your masters? Did you come right here after getting your bachelors?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson was finishing up design school in Chicago, and reflecting on what she wanted to do next. She wanted to work at a big company, and she had dreams of doing costume and corsetry design. She had struggled, working two jobs through undergrad and she wanted to figure things out. She was looking for internships or possibly pursuing graduate school. She found out that Nancy Bryant worked at Oregon State University and she reached out to her. Bryant offered Dickson a full scholarship and a graduate teaching assistant position. Dickson was able to come out to Oregon and get her masters.
Dickson had a lot to overcome when getting her masters. She had struggled with money and there was no one to help her when she needed it. She had to overcome all of the challenges herself.

Partial Transcript: Have you always had an interest in Bridal?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson was not always interested in Bridal, but she found that it was a way to pay for doing what she loved. She loves lace and beading and all things extravagant that brides are willing to pay for. She had a skill for creating gowns like this and she decided to start her own business. The first wedding dress she made was for her sister-in-law which helped her realize that this was something that she could do to make money.
Dickson had made prom dresses while her sister was in high school. This was an outlet for her to create amazing designs for fun.

Partial Transcript: What was it like starting to teach?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson was very nervous to start teaching. She has a big fear of public speaking that was challenging to overcome. After her first year being a teaching assistant, she had to start teaching her own class. She lectured a class called fashion trend analysis. She was very nervous to lecture so many people. Dickson ended up creating her own lectures on things that she was interested in and she ended up finding out that she really liked it. She was able to lecture on things that she was interested in and she found that it was really engaging for them.

Partial Transcript: Why did you decide to end the custom bridal business?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson ended up ending the custom bridal business after having a bad experience with a bride. She was teaching full time an no longer felt like she needed to do the custom bridal on the side. Dickson ended up transitioning into doing remote digital design instead. Friends from college reached out to her about job opportunities that she was able to accept. She held on to a lot of connections from college with people that knew she got into digital work.

Partial Transcript: How did starting a family impact your career?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson faced challenges of not having as much time as she thought when she had a baby. After finishing her master's at Oregon State, she was faced with challenges of trying to decide whether she wanted to move across the company and start a job in industry, where she would have less time with her family, or stay in Corvallis and hope to get a job offer for a professor at Oregon State.

Partial Transcript: How did the pandemic affect you job?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson discusses the way that the pandemic affected teaching. She already knew a lot of technology and was able to transition into teaching digital design online. She also had to transition into teaching sewing classes online. She learned a lot of new technology that allowed her to teach in a totally different way.

Partial Transcript: Have there been any projects that you've worked on throughout your time at OSU that have been really impactful for you?

Segment Synopsis: Dickson started a class for apparel design students that led students through creating a fashion show. She was able to create the class that let students excel in creating a fashion show. This class went away after Dickson had children and she hopes to bring it back.
Dickson loves working with Honors College students because of their passion for design and creating.
Dickson talks about how OSU has changed over the last twenty years that she has been here. She has seen different trends in apparel design that impacted the program here.

Partial Transcript: How has technology impacted apparel design since you were in college studying?

Segment Synopsis: When Dickson was in college she didn't learn Adobe Illustrator and when she was looking for a job, she realized it was a skill she needed. At OSU, she had access to Adobe Illustrator and she had to teach herself as fast as she could. She learned it a lot by teaching other people. The next big technology advancement is the use of 3-D technology in design, which she had to teach herself.
Throughout her years since college, Dickson has seen many changes in the apparel industry. She watched the decline of fashion illustration, the rise of fast fashion, and the expansion of necessary technology.