[ Helen Brockman passes by Anderson Hall as she takes her early

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Sep 22, 2002 by Linda Laird Capital-Journal

Helen Brockman passes by Anderson Hall as she takes her early morning walk through the Kansas State University campus. She walks 1 1/2 miles each day before 8 a.m., starting at her house on North Manhattan Avenue and winding through campus with turns at Hale Library and Beach Museum of Art.

Brockman will turn 100 on Tuesday. She is finishing her theory of pattern design and waiting for her autobiography to be accepted by a publisher.

A 1969 picture of Brockman was used as the cover shot for the invitations sent out for her 100th birthday party, which was held Sept. 13.

Brockman laughs boisterously with James Singleton, who was one of her students more than 30 years ago. Singleton, who learned fashion design from Brockman, leads the fashion design program at Washington University in St. Louis. He returned for her birthday party.

Brockman says her handwriting has diminished to the point that she must type her words if she wants others to read them. She learned how to use the computer, then wrote a computer guide for beginners.

Helen Brockman's face may show some of her 100 years, but her mind and attitude are still young.

Helen Lewis Brockman

Born: Sept. 24, 1902, at Palo, Iowa, near Cedar Rapids.

Education: Bachelor's degree in Greek and Latin from the University of Iowa in 1926; studied fashion design at the Traphagen School of Fashion.

Employment: Fashion designer for Rolland Freres Inc. Spectator Sportwear; Helen Brockman Custom-made Dress Business; consultant to Vogue/Butterick Pattern Co. during the reorganization of its pattern sizing; taught dress design at Cooper Union Art School and spent nine years at the Fashion Institute in New York City teaching fashion design.

She came to Kansas State University in 1968 and began developing her pattern system to "actually fit the body."

Honors: K-State's Distinguished Teaching Award and the Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award for Home Economics in 1974; Oldest Female Worker Award for Kansas for three years.

Books: "The Theory of Fashion Design," the first textbook published on fashion theory; a seven-part book series on pattern development; two recipe books, including "The Brockman House Cookbook;" two poetry books; and her autobiography, "Both Sides of Nice."

Fund: The Helen Lewis Brockman Fund in apparel and textiles is also being established to assure Brockman's achievements in design theory and pattern development are forever recognized at K-State.

By Linda Laird

Photographs

by Mike Shepherd

The Capital-Journal

Century mark just another milestone for fashion designer, author and hostess

elen Brockman doesn't like being a celebrity. She prefers being on the edge --- the edge of innovation.

Brockman says she is "no member of clubs, just in charge of flubs" as she quips in rhyme. She has a number of books of her four line verse.

"You give me things to unravel and places to travel and I'm good," she says.

So she has spent her 100 years doing just that.

She has traveled to Europe eight times and to China once. She plays host to international visitors at Kansas State University.

And she continues her life's work --- fashion design.

She now is working on the re-publication of her "Theory of Dress Design" first published in 1965 to include her own revolutionary pattern system. She also tackles special patterns for people who need to have clothing that fits.

She said the difficulty of having her pattern system accepted comes out of the "failure of pattern companies' own system of sizing and in seamstresses not being willing to do a little math."

"It is my hope that the wholesale manufacturers may embrace this sizing system so fashion may tend to the things nature neglected," she said.

The honored educator of fashion design, innovator in design theory and pattern development, and author of several fashion books recently received an honorary membership from the International Apparel and Textiles Association in New York City.

"My eyes went bad a month before I went into New York City, so they sent a former student, who's almost 70, to baby-sit," she said. "It's hard for me. I've always been able to handle life to suit me."

Watching Brockman move easily downstairs to her work area or upstairs to the apartment standing ready for K-State's next visiting dignitaries, few would think she was approaching the century mark.

She did manage the New York trip, though she said it was hard sitting in the airport and hard to drag a bag two blocks.

She had an interview with ABC and met with a publisher about the updating of her book on pattern design.

Back home, things go back to normal, though her activities are more normal for a woman half her age.

Brockman rises early and puts the coffee on. She then squeezes enough orange juice for one glass.

By 7 a.m. depending on the weather, she is off for a 1 1/2-mile walk through the Kansas State University campus that takes her by the library and art museum. Upon her return, she eats breakfast.