Designer/Artist Statement
My name is Katya. I came to New York City all the way from Russia for pursuing fashion design major at Parsons the New School for Design. Throughout the first two years of studying at Parsons I discovered my second passion, which is photography. Designing clothes and taking pictures are equally important to me, since having two directions helps me to find the balance between keeping myself both busy and happy.
Fashion major has a lot of directions, which I am still discovering and gaining new skills from. My recent biggest interest lies upon textiles. Besides creating interesting patterns and polishing the sewing skills I find it important to make my clothes stand out among others through fabric manipulations. However, I do not usually think of it in a competitive way, it is about self-improving myself and learning new things as often as possible. I love listening to what other people from my major tell me. Because our school is famous for its cultural diversity, you never know what kind of people you have a chance to run into on a daily basis. When people ask me who exactly I am in fashion world, I usually say I am a storyteller. It is important for me to have at least a bit of connection to my ideas. It does not necessarily has to be intimate or personal, just having that thin line connection is enough to keep myself motivated for further experimentations and completing certain collections. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I do not have an ability to draw designs starting with a blank paper and a pencil. In my case particularly the creative process begins when I create an object or a certain swatch that is interesting to touch and to feel. My collections begin with most random things, sometimes it does not even look that I am striving for a look or clothes, the process of textile story brings me to the destination much later along the progress of the fabric exploration. With time, especially during the recent two semesters I realized the value of touch and smell. It might not be related to every aspect of fashion but still, at some certain point it is important to reach out to audience through the movement of fabric, through the touch of fabric. I create things that contain meaning; at least most of them have some sort of significance. Sometimes, in order to get other’s attention you have to go beyond the wearability matter and do something conceptual. Currently I am trying to find the balance between people seeing my voice in my designs and still wanting to wear it, wanting to use it. Researching helps me to find the direction and to narrow my thoughts down to one theme. In future I hope to see myself designing clothes that brings people warmth and comfort. I do not know in what direction of fashion industry I will choose to be, since lately I discovered my interest towards menswear tailoring techniques while working on my womenswear ready-to-wear collection, but I know it will be related to clothes with a lot of movement and thoughtful modern constructions. Fashion industry is done by people’s hands; with my designs and stories I hope to reach out to the wider customer range, and spread out the awareness to make people appreciate the craft of clothing making.
