Xiaomeng Yang
Advanced Research Seminar
May/10th/2018
Final Designer statement
I think of my design as a way of thinking through visual vocabularies. Most of my collections are narrative based, often I have a very clear theme or a very specific story I want to tell. But my designs are also explorations into techniques.I often continue exploring particular techniques that emerge from a sample I’ve made.
To me it’s very important that clothes move and that they have humanity. Creativity especially as it relates to fashion, is an organic process that involves change. So I always begin with the hand–either a sketch or a piece of fabric that I drape on the mannequin. Although I spend early stages of the design process visualizing my creations through drawing, the inception of my pieces typically occurs on the body.
Working three-dimensionally was more intuitive for me, I can quickly visualise ideas on a friend in order to best get a sense of the way that a fabric moves, drapes, and interacts with the body. My approach is perpetually cutting into made toiles and and layering and lots of pinning and taping. Not much thinking, just feeling. It’s about catching a moment. It also helps me select color placement and proportions. When I sketch I do it with the intention of imagining all different types of woman for the collection. I start thinking of shapes and textures: one might have more volume, one might be more structured, one might be more body-conscious.
