Fashion veterans launch Fair Hotchkiss, a stylish new apparel collection born from Bearcat pride and creative passion

Read the Summer 2025 Hotchkiss Magazine

By Daniel Lippman '08

A new Hotchkiss-themed fashion line made its debut during the June reunion, thanks to the creativity of talented alumnae who work in the industry. 

Z’hara Green ’08 is head of fashion expertise at Chanel, and Carla Tamer ’08 is senior product director for kids lifestyle footwear at Nike and used to work for the Converse shoe brand. They attended Athletic Alumnae Weekend in October 2024 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of coeducation at Hotchkiss. While they were in Lakeville, their husbands told them that they loved Hotchkiss, but they wanted to see merchandise that was fresh and relevant to them.

That discussion led Green and Tamer, with the help of Faith Briggs Rose ’06, to launch the Fair Hotchkiss apparel collection in a pop-up store held in the School’s snack bar on June 14. The “capsule collection” consists of a sweatshirt in beige and navy colors, a hat, and a T-shirt. The gear “embodies the spirit and style of the Hotchkiss community,” according to their announcement.

They reached out to Director of Alumni Engagement Caroline Sallee Reilly ’87, who greenlit the idea after speaking with Terri Moore, the faculty advisor for FASH (Fashion and Style at Hotchkiss). The trio started a weekly virtual meeting on Saturdays where they designed the pieces using Adobe Illustrator. All of the embroidery was done in Los Angeles, and the clothes are made abroad, including in Nicaragua.

“When you are passionate about something and then you start working in the industry, it can take away a little bit of that passion because you lose the creative side of it,” said Green. “This became a creative outlet for Carla and me.”

Tamer and Green were best friends at Hotchkiss and remain so to this day. “There were a couple of moments when we would text each other after and say, ‘Wow, this is so fun doing this creative work with you.’ It’s great seeing your friends in an element that they’re specialized in, that you don’t see on a regular basis,” Tamer said.

They said one of the best parts of making the collection was the research they conducted for the graphics by viewing the Hotchkiss archives to look at old yearbooks and photos. Archivist and Records Manager Rosemary Davis gave them access to a wealth of Hotchkiss history. Their hat features the famous Hotchkiss bulls sculpture by Peter Woytuk, while the sweatshirt has the Hotchkiss Minerva seal along with the year of the School’s founding and the year it started admitting women. The T-shirt features an illustration of Main Building.

They said they have received a positive reaction from alumni, whom they enticed with margaritas at their makeshift store during reunion weekend. Green and Tamer made almost 130 pieces of apparel on their first go-around and sold about half of the merchandise. Green said one of the highlights of the whole experience was that other people who work in fashion stopped by and told them they didn’t know that other people who went to Hotchkiss also work in the industry. 

Since Green and Tamer work on the business side of fashion, they reached out to Briggs Rose to help with the design element of the apparel. She is a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles and was Green’s proctor in Bissell when she was a lower mid. 

“Beauty, fashion, and self-styling are ways that we tell the world around us who we are,” she said. “While the word fashion often has a negative and superficial connotation, the reality is that the creation of a personal aesthetic can also signify a lot about individuals and cultures. To be able to create a collection that expands the options available for the Hotchkiss community and to create something that is for and by that community was a special opportunity.”

Since she was the first person in her family to attend boarding school, Briggs Rose said that one of the most shocking aspects of starting at Hotchkiss was the students’ clothes. When she got to campus, she felt that everyone had the same brands and a preppy style that she had never seen before.

Connecting Students to Fashion

The new apparel collection has also served as a way to connect current Hotchkiss students interested in fashion to Green and Tamer. The two felt like there was a lack of programming around fashion when they were at the School a decade and a half ago.

“Being able to help the next generation of students who are interested in or have a passion for style and fashion, and showing them that they are really going to be part of creating the collection with us, is very inspiring,” said Tamer.

“You can’t dream something that you’ve never seen before. It’s just impossible,” Green added. “And for us, I think just showing students what’s possible is the most important part of this project.”

During the course of designing the collection, Green and Tamer spoke over Zoom to student clubs FASH and Females in Finance. Ophelia Cham ’25, who was co-head of the Females for Finance club and served on the board of FASH, raved about them. “They were amazing, super supportive, and inspiring,” she said. 

While FASH members were unable to assist with the apparel launch due to the accelerated timeline leading up to Reunion, Green and Tamer want to continue this project and help club members create their own designs. “We would like to engage with them starting in the fall and winter,” Green said.

They are also excited to connect Bearcats to the fashion industry. Green has invited Cham to the Chanel offices once the Hotchkiss graduate is settled at New York University. Green also introduced Cham to a high-level member of the Chanel team to learn more about the luxury brand. Cham even wrote an email entirely in French during their exchange as part of her senior project in her French class.

Green, who has been at Chanel for more than a decade, has fashion in her blood. Her grandmother and great aunt were both dressmakers, and her mother made all the merchandise for a music festival her family had in Jamaica.

Tamer said she had always been aware of the importance of fashion and style. Growing up in Germany and England as a child, she felt especially attuned to the need to adapt to local style.

They both said that Hotchkiss has greatly helped them in their careers, and Tamer especially gives her recently retired field hockey coach Robin Chandler ’87 a lot of credit for teaching her how to be a good teammate and person. 

“How to work hard, how to be agile, working under high stress—that translates anywhere and anytime,” Tamer said. “Hotchkiss kind of forces you to not be dependent on your parents to fix it for you. You have to solve problems on your own.” 

Daniel Lippman ’08 is a White House and Washington reporter for POLITICO and can be reached at dlippman@politico.com.