My fourth collection for Fashion and Student Trends was inspired by a dream--a blurry whirlwind of red flowers, bullfighters and flamenco dancers. My fondness for the darkly romantic took over, and blurry recollections of red flowers and Spanish motifs eventually manifested as vivid images of poppies and musings about hazy opium dreams. To me, poppies are darkly romantic, replete with a gripping yet conflicting symbolism and connotations of peace, war, death, and rebirth. The collection itself also took on a more decadent and hedonistic vibe. I drew from a variety of artistic influences, including the Baroque, Art Deco, and Pre-Raphaelite movements, and structured the color progression of the collection to roughly transition from vibrance and glory to decay and rebirth.
I've always held a deep love of fashion design, but don't any formal training. I fact, I had never touched a sewing machine before joining FAST. But having been in the club for 3 semesters, for this collection, I sought to challenge myself with higher level tailoring and more intensive ornamentation, as well as creating more pieces than I had ever done before. I created a bodice from scraps of wine-colored tulle, cut apart and pieced together gold lace, hand-ruffled 40 yards of red chiffon, used neoprene mesh for the first time, took a first stab at making a mermaid gown, hand-studded a feather belt for said mermaid gown, created a bustier top, and covered said top with 200-something flowers.
I've always held a deep love of fashion design, but don't any formal training. I fact, I had never touched a sewing machine before joining FAST. But having been in the club for 3 semesters, for this collection, I sought to challenge myself with higher level tailoring and more intensive ornamentation, as well as creating more pieces than I had ever done before. I created a bodice from scraps of wine-colored tulle, cut apart and pieced together gold lace, hand-ruffled 40 yards of red chiffon, used neoprene mesh for the first time, took a first stab at making a mermaid gown, hand-studded a feather belt for said mermaid gown, created a bustier top, and covered said top with 200-something flowers.
Thank you to Catherine Zhou for the photos and Alice Pang for modeling.
Backless ruffled tulle mini-dress. Top made from hand-rouched tulle scraps.
Gold mini created from deconstructed and re-sewn lace flowers.
Lace column dress with open back.
Lace column dress with open back, full length.
Red backless ruffled tulle gown.
Red backless ruffled tulle gown, with a ruffled hem made from 40 yards of chiffon.
Embellished, cut-out mermaid gown.
Embellished, cut-out mermaid gown.
Floral bustier top, created from 10 yards of organza and 200+ fabric flowers.
Below are some of my sketches from different steps in the conceptual stage. It's always interesting to see how designs evolve from original ideas!
