Dressed for Purpose

Assistant Professor of Fashion Design, Andie Day receives national research grant to study how students discover their vocational calling through fashion entrepreneurship

Andie Day didn't set out to become a vocation scholar. She built her career as a costumer in film and television, worked in the apparel industry and spent five years teaching at Baylor. It turns out that winding path was exactly the preparation she needed. 

That background is now at the center of a nationally recognized research project. Day, an assistant professor of fashion design in Belmont's O'More College of Architecture & Design, is one of 17 recipients of the inaugural Grants to Individuals for Vocational Exploration, awarded by the Council of Independent Colleges through its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE). Funded by Lilly Endowment Inc., the program distributed $226,775 to scholars across its inaugural cohort.

Day's project will examine how students in an immersive fashion entrepreneurship course discover meaning, purpose and calling as they engage with real-world industry leaders and tackle authentic design challenges. The course will take place in spring 2027. 

What Does Fashion Have to Do with Vocation? 

For Day, the connection between fashion and vocation is both intuitive and underexplored. Fashion students often arrive with a clear dream — owning a brand, launching a label — but without the framework to make that ambition both meaningful and sustainable. 

"A big part of it is helping students understand that their desire to solve customer problems — and their eye for people's distinct product needs — really aligns with the idea of calling. Entrepreneurship often grows from a specific calling, whether that's a service-oriented purpose or a product niche that only they have identified." 

It's an idea she has been developing throughout her time at Belmont, where the college already had a strong service-learning foundation. Assistant Dean Jamie Atlas built much of that culture through partnerships with local non-profits such as Gigi's Playhouse. Day continued the college’s efforts through projects with Saddle Up and Move Inclusive Dance, where students designed custom garments for riders and dancers with specific physical needs, deepened that work.  

Seeing the Customer Clearly  

Fashion is a secular industry. But for Day, faith is at the center of how she thinks about design and what she hopes her students take with them.  

"I had a light bulb moment recently. The idea behind truly seeing the customer for who they are: God sees us all so clearly and truly. And if we approach design with that level of empathy, we are all stronger designers. O’More College is deepening that conversation across all three disciplines: are students empathizing with the people inside the building that they design for, or just designing something pretty to look at?" 

Day has watched that light bulb moment happen for students in real time. During a project with Saddle Up, a student was paired with a child who used leg braces and a feeding tube. Rather than designing around those realities, the student designed toward them, adding a zippered pant leg for independent dressing and incorporating the child's own digital artwork into the fabric print. 

"She was able to connect the technical side and the aesthetic side. Some students get one or the other, but not both. She executed a garment this child could put on by himself, served every purpose he needed and also aligned with his personal taste. That's the whole thing." 

Recognition Beyond the Runway 

Part of what makes the NetVUE grant meaningful to Day is what it signals: that the vocational questions her students navigate are worth serious scholarly attention, even in a field not typically associated with academic theology or vocation studies.   

“I really appreciate that NetVUE saw my application about fashion and took it seriously. Fashion isn't always understood in the academic institution. So the fact that they can see where it has a place within vocational research — I'm really grateful for that recognition.”  

As the course takes shape, Day hopes students leave not with answers, but with the curiosity to keep asking questions. 

"I don't think we'll find our calling, or that dream business idea, without a strong sense of curiosity. That's what I hope to instill in students as part of this class." 

Day's project is part of a broader cohort of 17 scholars in NetVUE's inaugural individual grant program, spanning scholarship, curriculum development, resource creation and programmatic research.