Nelson Cantada is an Assistant Professor in the Fashion Studies department.
Cantada started his fashion career on the business side, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in marketing from New York University Stern School of Business. He then worked in the New York corporate offices of Ann Taylor, Inc., as a merchandise distributor and Barneys New York as a merchandise planner.
He completed a BFA in fashion design. This was followed by a move to Paris to study at Studio Bercot. While there, he interned for two Paris-based fashion designers—Sharon Wauchob and Tom Van Lingen.
Returning to the U.S., he worked for a year in New York City designing for an evening wear company but eventually moved back west to Los Angeles to work as a designer for Laundry by Shelli Segal and BCBG Max Azria collection.
He spent six years at Academy of Art University, his alma mater, as a full-time instructor teaching fashion design. In 2016, he enrolled at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study with the artist Nick Cave and acquire his master’s in design, having decided that teaching was the career he wanted to pursue.
Contact Cantada at cantadan@cod.edu or (630) 942-2363.
Areas of Expertise
- Experimental Fashion Design
- Intersection Between Fashion and Art
- Intersection Between Fashion and Gender/Sexuality
- Psychology of Fashion