MODA Designer Profile: Maxime Kpangbai

Feb 5

Feb 5 MODA Designer Profile: Maxime Kpangbai

Maxime Kpangbai is a 4th year student majoring in Economics and minoring in visual arts. Besides designing for MODA (for three years straight!), she was the Vice President of Women in Business and she currently works for the Office of Admissions as an outreach intern. I inquired into her creative process and 2020 collection:

What are some sources of inspiration for your collection?

I tend to draw my inspiration from my daily life and things around me. Instead of purely drawing inspiration from fashion trends and clothing items, I like to explore unconventional inspirations. For example, if I like the color of a wall, I may find fabric that mimics that texture to include in my collection. I sometimes find drawing inspirations from fashion trends and clothing items to be limiting. Additionally, clothing inspiration can interfere with my vision of the collection, especially if the piece is something that I really like. For the 2020 collection, I was inspired by the color purple. I am going through a phase where I want everything to be purple, anything from sweaters to notebooks. I knew that I wanted to play around with different textures, so I visited a fabric store and picked out 20+ shades of purple to see what I’ll be working with, and that’s how I started my design process.

Have you ever done fashion design work before? What are some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the process?

I had no design experience prior to MODA. I joined the Designer Boot Camp program my second year, and have been a MODA designer ever since. This will be my third year designing for MODA, and every year I discover a completely different challenge and learn something new through the design and clothing-making process. For me, coming up with a so-called “perfect design,” or at least a design that I’m 100% happy with, has been a recurring challenge. I’ve learned over the past two years that sometimes ideas just pop up during the process of fabric shopping, or even as late as when I’m actually constructing the pieces. I’ve learned to embrace the fluidity of the process and to be open to change, especially when it comes to refining the design.

What do you have in mind when you’re designing?

I always start out with one specific color. For me, it is the easiest way to unify the different pieces that are in my collection. Once I decide on the color of my collection, I then play around with the different textures to really differentiate the individual pieces.

What are you looking forward to most about the show?

I’m look forward to showcasing my collection one last time as a MODA designer. I can’t wait to see the models wear my designs and walk on stage. I remember last year just coming back to my apartment after the show and cleaning up my living room and packing up my sewing machine, and it felt like an end to a creative adventure. So I’m excited to go through this journey again with my closest friend who is also designing for MODA. My goal this year is to cherish the sewing moments and enjoy the process as much as possible.

If you could give your younger self any advice on the design process, what would you say?

Looking back at the past two years, I realized that I really did not take into account feasibility. As a UChicago student, we are all super busy and tend to bury ourselves with work. I would say to my younger self to TIME MANAGE, and shoot for the moon but still be realistic. I would spend more time during the design process to think through the logistics of the design. I do, however, enjoy feeling inspired during the process of making the clothes because I think the unplanned finishing touches really complete the collection. Nevertheless, it is still important to be practical.

What’s your favorite aspect of the design process?

My favorite aspect of the design process is definitely gathering inspiration. I love the feeling of “feeling inspired,” and I love anything aesthetically pleasing. Those two things combined are what really makes design and fashion fun for me.