Design Studio

October 2024

Scripps College, Claremont CA

When I was younger, I loved watching Project Runway. The most interesting part to me was not the final runway show at the end of each episode but the segment that showed all the budding designers sprinting around Mood Fabric Store, running back to their shared studio, and frantically getting to work on their designs. I was fascinated by the speed at which they could draw up ideas and sew entire muslin pieces just to have Tim Gunn tell them that the whole thing was wrong and do it over again. When I looked at photos of fashion studios, I noticed that although the rooms seemed quite sterile and almost clinical, the activity they are used for is far less neat. The mannequins draped in half-sewn garments with pencil marks all over, fabric scraps littering the floor, and tools left out are details that reveal the organized chaos of the creative process that I wanted to emulate. I was heavily inspired by archival photos of Maison Martin Margiela. He sought to showcase the final result of his clothing pieces and the process. There is a certain depth to clothing design and fabrication that can only be understood by viewing the raw and experimental aspects of the process before there are finished pieces ready for the public. I love fashion because it is the perfect intersection of creativity and utility. Sewing is often relegated to the realm of craft rather than fine art, which I find to be an outdated and often misogynistic perspective. By showcasing a clothing design studio in an alternative context, I seek to shift how it is viewed in regards to Art. There is an immense amount of craftsmanship and beauty in the world of couture clothing design. Utility should not negate clothing as art.