The Caroline Method
Teaching the Heart Through the Hands
At Creative Space Beirut, the late Caroline Shalala Simonelli’s spirit continues to shape and guide the next generation of designers—not through memory alone, but through method.
Caroline, a Lebanese-American designer with more than 50 years of experience in New York’s fashion industry, was more than just a co-founder of CSB. She was a master educator, a fierce believer in accessible design education, and a magical draper whose teachings were rooted in deep intuition, technical brilliance, and a profoundly human approach.
Her draping techniques—developed over decades of working in couture, plus-size, and ready-to-wear fashion—now live on in the classroom through the newly instilled course, Creative Draping: The Caroline Method, led by CSB alumnus and Fashion Trust Arabia 2023 award-winner, Amir Al Kasm. Amir was also Caroline’s student, and humbled to try and bring her teaching energy to CSB’s newest generation.
In traditional design, patterns are drafted first and then applied to the mannequin—but in creative draping, which Caroline deeply favored, the process is reversed: you drape directly on the mannequin, letting the fabric guide the form, and only afterward translate those shapes into patterns. In this course, students don’t just learn to manipulate fabric—they learn to listen to it.
Caroline always said: “The hands are the work organs of the heart.” Her approach emphasized a sensitivity to the life of the fabric, especially its bias. She taught students not to force a textile into submission, but to feel its natural flow, to understand its energy and let it guide the design.
Each session begins with Caroline herself. Home video recordings filmed during the Covid lockdowns show her demonstrating the intricacies of bias cuts, cowls, fluting, and structural forms. Her iconic voice—clear, grainy, commanding—guides the students through the fundamentals of draping, just as she once did in the classrooms of FIT, Parsons, Pratt and, lucky for us, CSB.
But it’s not just what she says; it’s also how she moves—her hands glide over the fabric with precision and grace—each motion a lesson in itself.
Following each video, students begin the tactile process of applying what they’ve absorbed: pinning, folding, slicing, stitching. They drape directly onto the mannequin, allowing the fabric to lead, and only then translate those shapes into patterns. Every week becomes a ritual of intuition and precision—a dialogue between fabric and form.
Under Amir’s guidance, students receive one-on-one feedback, refining their silhouettes and evolving their technical fluency. Amir brings not only his mastery of construction and innovation, but also a deep reverence for Caroline’s legacy and an ability to translate her philosophy into each critique and correction.
Caroline’s classroom was always electric, elevated by her intention to tap into higher planes of creativity. One of her beloved traditions lives on: the Wisdom Cards. Borrowed from her days teaching Sarah Hermez, CSB’s founder, she would open class with Japanese proverbs drawn from these cards, setting intentions, grounding energy, and sparking reflection. These small rituals connected the students to something bigger than fashion: a mindset of curiosity, courage, and care.
What makes the Caroline Method so distinct is its balance of freedom and rigor. Students are encouraged to explore unconventional shapes, layering, and volume—collaging their ideas in real time on the dress form. Yet each experiment is grounded in structure and purpose.
As they progress through weeks of hands-on practice, they move from power net foundations and bias jackets to dolman sleeves and creative pants, culminating in a final garment that showcases not just their technical evolution, but their design identity.
But more than that, they learn that draping isn’t just about shaping garments—it’s about shaping thought. It’s experiential learning in its purest form. It’s the art of responding, of letting go, of discovering that the fabric has a story, and the designer’s role is to listen.
Students begin to see their hands not just as tools, but as extensions of feeling. They cultivate a changemaking attitude—one rooted in intuition, trust, and the ethics of material.
Caroline passed away in late 2024, but through this course, her presence remains palpable. In every cowl, every fold, every fluted hem—in her unmatched insights and the way students now pause to listen to fabric, set intentions, or let their hands speak for their hearts—her legacy continues.
Not only in what they create, but in how they feel their way through the creative process: tuned in, open, and alive.
