Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen

Since 2005 Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen is professor of Fashion Design at Berlin University of the Arts and was managing director of the Institute for Fashion- and Textile Design at Berlin University of the Arts until 2019, when she took over the position as Dean of the College of Architecture, Media and Design.

She  studied Fashion Design at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in Antwerp (Belgium). After her graduation in 1994 she took over the product managing of in-house collection Callaghan and in the following years also for the license productions Chanel and Helmut Lang at Zamasport SpA (Italy). Later Valeska Schmidt-Thomsen managed the new brands Stella McCartney and Balenciaga at Gucci Group (Italy).

In 1996, she presented with Gerrit Mertens in Milan the collection „Fashion–Furniture“ – a combined work of the two fields. In 2002 she joined as Head of Design Milan based label Costume National, for which she also worked as a freelance designer.