School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
Founded in 1866, SAIC is one of the most prestigious independent art and design schools in the U.S., located in downtown Chicago and connected to the worldrenowned Art Institute of Chicago. Known for its interdisciplinary approach, SAIC encourages students to explore across disciplines, from fashion and architecture to visual communications and sculpture.
Ranked #9 globally for Art & Design in the 2025 QS World University Rankings, SAIC is consistently recognized among the top programs worldwide.
Notable alumni and faculty include Georgia O’Keeffe, Jeff Koons, Nick Cave, Cynthia Rowley, and Richard Hunt. A 2002 national survey named SAIC the most influential art school in the U.S.
SAIC. (Johnnys Work )
Johnny Diamandis has served as part-time faculty at SAIC since 2023, where he teaches Fashion Intensive Portfolio—a hands-on course designed to prepare students for their first job in the fashion industry. The course emphasizes building an industry-ready portfolio through mood boards, hand sketching, technical drawings, and product construction, with an optional CLO3D component. Diamandis has also led CLO3D workshops for both faculty and students, helping integrate advanced digital tools into fashion education. His additional workshop, Pencils to Pixels, trains students to accurately study and technically illustrate garments. He remains actively involved in teaching and mentorship at SAIC, contributing to portfolio reviews across BA and MFA levels. Each year, he also collaborates with artist and professor Nick Cave on judging panels for both the Fashion, Body and Garment graduate thesis fellowship and the MFA Graduate Award selection.
Testimonial - Academic Reference - Johnny Diamandis
Abbreviated reference from the former Head of Menswear at RCA. Full signed version available upon request
“In my role as Senior Menswear Tutor at the Royal College of Art between 1998 and 2015, and Course Director of the MA Menswear Course as Westminster University between 2015 and 2017, I ensured that Johnny Diamandis remained a core contributor to both curricula.
As a teacher Johnny is inspiring, forward-thinking, encouraging and profoundly supportive of the creative and professional processes required to nurture change within students. His teaching inspired future thinking in established designers such as Aitor Throup, Matthew Miller, Astrid Andersen, Alex Mullins, Liam Hodges and FengChen Wang, and many others who work within established design houses internationally.
In equal measure he is an inspiring, encouraging, reliable and supportive colleague and it is with great pleasure that I write this reference because Johnny has helped shape my own development and understanding of what it means to consider teaching and design for future generations.”
Yours sincerely, Ike Rust Head of Menswear - Royal College of Art 1998 - 2015)
Aug 2018
RCA. (Johnnys Work)
Royal College of Art – MA Fashion Menswear
From 2006 to 2015, Johnny Diamandis was a longstanding core contributor to the MA Menswear program at the QS #1 ranked Royal College of Art. Working in close partnership with the Fashion department, he created and authored a series of original project briefs that became central to the curriculum.
Johnny designed and wrote projects with a sustainable focus, requiring students to address emerging ecological issues, manufacturing working practices, and fair-trade, and to create solution-focused proposals that lessen toxicity, raise awareness of diversity and equality, and increase reflection on the value of meaningful fashion design.
Johnny’s projects were primarily taught longdistance, which required him to innovate and set up an online platform, RCA Menswear, so that briefings, tutorials, discussion groups, archived presentations, and critiques could happen digitally. Again, this introduced challenges that supported students’ development of essential skills required for effective communication within a changing industry.
His teaching inspired future thinking in established designers such as Aitor Throup, Matthew Miller, Astrid Andersen, Alex Mullins, Liam Hodges, and FengChen Wang, and many others who work within established design houses internationally.
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Project: An Inconvenient Design — RCA
Created and led by Johnny Diamandis and supported by Certainty Organic, this project challenged MA students to rethink the lifecycle of the most iconic fashion staple: the T-shirt. Drawing on Cradle to Cradle principles, students were tasked with designing a T-shirt that integrated sustainable, ethical, and socially responsible practices
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Project: Fighting Counterfeit Through Design — RCA
While serving as Global Design Director at Evisu, Johnny Diamandis created and led this project—developed in response to the counterfeit issues facing the brand—challenging students to redesign the brand’s iconic seagull logo to outsmart counterfeiters. The brief combined denim innovation with brand protection and visual identity strategy.
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Project: The Craft of Slow Wear Revisited for 2015 — RCA
Created and led by Johnny Diamandis, this project challenged students to critique fast fashion’s environmental impact and propose a long-life menswear item for a non–price-sensitive market. Designs emphasized thoughtful materials, critical function, and enduring beauty over trend-driven disposability.
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Project: Made in China.
Created and led by Johnny Diamandis, this virtual project challenged students to confront stereotypes of China as a source of mass production, while examining its growing role as both luxury market and high-end manufacturer. Through reimagined military garments, students explored sustainability, function, and the not-if-but-when emergence of a world-leading Chinese design house.
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Project: The Signature Dish— RCA
Created and led by Johnny Diamandis, this project explored the power of one defining piece—“the signature dish” of a brand. Students were challenged to create a single, iconic item that could lead a label, combining technical precision, responsible sourcing, and commercial strategy with clear, lasting design identity