2018 Designer Profiles: Kellie Lu
Every year, the MODA Fashion Show wraps up winter quarter with the perfect homage to student talent, hard work and creativity. In anticipation of this year's show, we have interviewed some of the designers involved. Meet Kellie Lu, a second year Psychology and Creative Writing double-major.
What are some sources of inspiration for your collection this year?
My source is the Badlands Wall, a stretch of crumbling terrain located in Badlands National Park in South Dakota. My family visited over the summer, and I was astounded by its immense scope and beauty—but also by its fragility. The Badlands are eroding by about an inch a year, and in some hundred years, they will be gone. In contrast, granite erodes 1 inch every 10,000 years. The pictures in my moodboard show the immensity of the land—in the third picture down on the left, the small black speckles are trees. These ripples and ridges are also repeated on a smaller scale in certain areas. I have added that to my collection by including dynamic, flowing pieces.
In many ways, the land, for me, embodies the contradictions inherent in women. The contradictions of this landscape include its relative permanence to us versus its fragility compared to other stone; the bright beauty of day versus the moody smolder of night; the hot, shadeless summers versus the chilly snow-capped winters. Although in our culture we tend to associate earth with the masculine, this has translated into a very feminine quality in my clothing. My pieces are playful, serious, flirty, and sultry.
I want my looks to project the tasteful choice of the person wearing it. The combination of pieces ought to forecast a mood: a storm on the horizon, or gentle clouds to shield the sun.
Have you ever done fashion design work before? What are some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the process?
Never. I’m designing as part of MODA’s Designer Boot Camp, an amazing opportunity that I am still astounded I’ve seized. It has been really transformative, and I have acquired a skill set that would have been inaccessible otherwise.
At first, I dreaded sewing—I only wanted to design. I tend to be perfectionist and overly dogmatic, so making pieces takes a long time, and sometimes I am too afraid of improvising. I get absent-minded and will spend an hour doing something only to realize I didn’t actually have to, haha. Trace, cut, sew—relaxing, but sometimes I lose the big picture. But yesterday, I could barely contain my excitement when I finishe my first mockup It is really amazing putting these flat, two-dimensional pieces together to form what used to be an intangible idea.
What are you looking forward to most about the MODA Fashion Show?
I grow on social energy. When I was acting in high school, I loved show night. The excitement and energy—I feed off that. That will be the night I finally see my creations come to life, when they are where they belong: on people.
All images via Kellie Lu
