Faculty Roster
Dolores Horcasitas
Dolres Horcasitas holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture. But ever since she was a young girl she also had a love of fashion, clothing and textiles. Coming to Toronto, she went on to study Fashion Design at the International Academy of Design and Merchandising and before graduating in 1992, she had started working for a clothing manufacturer as a designer and pattern drafter.
In 1995, she started her first business venture called Dress for Two, a maternity wear company, selling across Canada, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, before closing in 2002. After that, she started freelancing as a designer and pattern drafter and has done work for companies such as Lida Baday, Shelly Oh, Peachtree Originals, Rococo, Zen Couture, Guats, Elegant Expectations and many more.
Currently she is a part-time instructor at the Academy of Design Toronto and teaches Pattern Drafting II, Pattern Drafting III, Grading, and Workroom Techniques besides designing the Azure collection. Dolores started Collection Azure, her second business venture in 2007 with a partner, a clothing line catering to sophisticated, professional women.
Robert Kennedy
For 25 Years, Robert Kennedy has dedicated his career in fashion, to custom tailoring, pattern drafting and draping. Recently, working alongside such designers as Justina McCaffrey, Greta Constantine and Joeffer Caoc has given Robert the meticulous ability to create and fuse many techniques in order to continue the hands on expertise necessary to progress in the fashion industry.
Keith Richardson
Keith first studied architecture and environmental design at the Ontario College of Art. Realizing the similarities of the two medium, both involve turning two-dimensional materials into three-dimensional items, the intimacy and immediacy of fashion won out, and Keith went on to study at the prestigious Galasso School of Design in Toronto, learning couture techniques of patternmaking. After graduating Keith went on to further his studies at George Brown College, where he studied industrial methods of garment design and manufacturing. Keith spent 10 years working in Miami, for numerous sportswear companies, and upon returning to Toronto, began teaching at the Academy.
Keith has won numerous awards for his work in fashion, he continues to design and has published a textbook “Introduction to Stretch” a patternmaking manual for knits and stretch fabrics.
Anna Di Lorenzo
Anna Di Lorenzo is a former IAOD alumnus and has been an instructor at The Academy of Design Toronto for nine years. After graduating from school she worked in fashion show production for many years, developing relationships with many local and international designers. Anna also worked as a personal assistant to Loucas, a Toronto based designer for several years. Her second career is as a make-up artist on television commercials. Recently she decided to further her education and is now enrolled at a local university.
Jennifer Dares
Jennifer Dares’ industry experience spans 20 years, ranging from conceptualizing, to design, to product development, to global trend analysis, to merchandising and buying. Most recent was her position as Women’s Trend Direction Manager for Hbc and her collection, Layer, which received national and international attention, acknowledged for being consistently in step with European collections with respect to fabric, colour and silhouette.
