All the images that we get of human bodies in daily life, all kinds of expected lines are silhouettes we’re familiar with. For my clothing designs and paintings, I’ve been trying to get outside of these lines and find things that give me a sensation of emotional,spiritual and intellectual beings. As a painter, I’ve been aesthetically drawn to the figurative “staples”– Francis Bacon, Gustav Klimt,Egon Schiele and Jenny Saville. My paintings often times feature the heavy use of contrast between rough strokes and delicate placement of colors. I like having big brushes glide through on canvas because there’re so many bristles on one brush and I can’t control each one of them and I don’t have to. There’s something about it that’s special, rough but poetic at the same time.
I appreciate the fragile balance between rough and delicacy,and certainly a strange soul behind it. My inspirations come from many things around me—nature, architecture, music, art works, people’s stories and conversations. I like to feel them, process them and analyze them. I’m fascinated by fashions from the interwar period of the 20th century, how women managed to maintain their elegance in an age of crisis. Madeleine Vionnet’s complex blend of pattern making and surface ornamentation inspires me.
My Chinese family includes a dad who’s a business person and a teacher mom and they’ve instilled this work ethic in me that I need to keep pushing myself until my capability matches my visions and ambitions. I’ve asked myself why I chose to major in fashion design multiple times before.I started off with a very of conscious idea of designing clothes that are flowy, feminine but still constructed, which convey my view on modern femininity. But sometimes I would put everything away and just work with my feelings. My first customer made me realize that fashion design isn’t just about two yards of fabric making a well- constructed dress– She left me a review saying that it looks wonderful on her and she’s wearing it to Chile’s National Tango Competition. The fact that the dress I designed made a woman feel special and confident in her own skin made me realize the true value of that two yards of fabric– It’s all about how it makes people feel.