Meet Kyle Denman, the new Fashion Design teaching artist in the Visual Arts department. He started at LACHSA last semester, and brings his award-winning design sensibility and humanitarian vision into the classroom, inspiring the next generation of fashion creators. He has already brought his fashion design student artists from LACHSA to LA’s Fashion Week!
Denman exemplifies the hard work and dedication of LACHSA’s teaching artists. Before entering the creative space, Kyle studied political science with a focus on nonprofit policy. However, having always loved art as a child, he craved creative expression and freedom. So in 2016, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue fashion design. Since then he has grown a client list to include names like Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Miss Teen Vietnam, and Georgina Pazcoguin the “Rogue Ballerina,” who wore a dress from his debut collection to the 2023 Academy Awards. He has shown in fashion weeks all around the world (with the most recent being Milan Fashion Week in September 2025) including Milan, New York, Vancouver, and Los Angeles Fashion Weeks. Recently, he took twenty LACHSA students to LA Fashion Week and even provided the opportunity for eleven of them to show a look on the runway! Denman has received accolades for his work, including being recognized as the 2021 International Fashion Designer of the Year and being named on the inaugural Forbes 30 Under 30 Los Angeles list.
Kyle Denman with LACHSA Fashion Design student artists at LA Fashion Week.
For years, Kyle has taught design and art to youth from underserved communities. Many of the young people who he has taught are systems-impacted and have experienced trauma from trafficking, housing insecurity, and gang violence. Through the lenses of art and design, Kyle teaches social-emotional skills and the importance of vulnerability and creative expression, and was even named a 30 Under 30 Changemaker in Education in 2021.
In addition to fashion and education, he also serves as the Executive Director of Arts Bridging the Gap, an LA County-wide arts organization that uplifts the voices, experiences, and self-expression of young people from under-resourced communities. The organization has painted over 120 youth-designed murals including the largest Black Lives Matter Movement mural in the United States. He also serves on the Policy Committee for Arts for LA.
Denman’s mission is to ignite a culture of change through creativity and curiosity and through radical acts of humanizing the human experience. He considers fashion to be an all-encompassing art—movement, design, architecture, and storytelling juxtaposed in socio-political, cultural, and historical contexts. Fashion—at its core—is a record of the zeitgeist and the innovation of people. As an artist, Kyle Denman is known for his avant-garde style, unique architectural silhouettes, and the emotional narratives woven into his creations.
Some of Kyle Denman’s designs.
Through his work, he aims to break down the barriers between art, learning, and advocacy, creating spaces for reflection, conversation and collective action. He views creativity not just as an aesthetic pursuit, but as a vital tool for solving social issues and empowering communities. Whether on the runway, through public art installations, or in collaborative projects, his approach is rooted in the belief that curiosity is the starting point for innovation and that art has the capacity to both reflect and shape the world we live in.
He believes in the transformative power of creativity to inspire, provoke, and ignite change, and he strives to ignite a shift in how we think, teach, and engage with the world around us—transforming art into a catalyst for social change and education into a foundation for creative exploration. Denman is not just a fashion designer—he’s a storyteller, educator, and advocate for social change. And he is a wonderful representation of what professional teaching artists bring to the LACHSA’s student artists every day.
You can explore Kyle Denman’s portfolio here.
