MODA Designer Profile: Andrew Chang

MODA Blog Editor-in-Chief Andrew Chang gave a sneak peek into his 2020 MODA Fashion Show collection, and some insight into his creative process:

What are some sources of inspiration for your collection?

I’ve been calling this collection my “sequel collection” in the sense that I find it explores many of the same themes and topics as my previous collection for MODA. I always want to explore the effect that clothing has on the wearer, how a wearer’s personality shifts with what they wear, and what kind of hybrid identity is formed at the intersection of humanity and fashion. Last season was more or less an engagement with how masculine elements like tailoring, trousers, and harder textiles like denim inhibit, expand, or complicate femininity and form a hybrid masculine-feminine power, whereas this season is all about approaching the same exploration but riding down a path of feminine elements.

Editor’s note: These concept art images were particularly inspiring to me :) via here and here

I started the collection by researching portrayals of women whose strength arises from their femininity and found myself at an intersection between three narratives: Oscar Wilde’s play, Salomé, Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake, and Naoko Takeuchi’s manga Sailor Moon. What I enjoyed about these women was their complexity, and, in particular, their range of personas within their own characters. Salomé’s docile royal persona clashes very graphically with her chaotic, and passionate side, complimentary to the dynamic between Tchaikovsky’s black and white swans; furthermore, Usagi Tsukino embodies much of her strength as Sailor Moon in holding true to her femininity as a school girl, which I always found to be rather interesting. This vision of a superhero pulls the strength of her powers from her identity as an educated female.

The tensions between different personalities within individuals always inspires me, and this collection depicts that tension through the contrasts of hard and soft, masculine and feminine, and black and white. I find that my most contemporary inspiration outside of literature is probably the the k-pop girl group BlackPink. I like the way those ladies combine a variety of tensions in their music and visuals—and I’m also a big fan of the way they dance. The collection also traces the path of the moon, commonly portrayed as feminine in many languages and associated with meditation, reflection and logical thinking. Depictions of the moon and it’s cycle are pretty consistent in all the texts that inspired my collection, and I wanted to incorporate the moon into my collection somehow, so the collection starts with an all black new moon and finishes with an all white full moon. 

Andrew’s moodboard.

Have you ever done fashion design work before? What are some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the process, and what are you looking forward to most about the show?  

I was lucky enough to participate in MODA’s Designer Bootcamp last year and have only good things to say about the team and experience.  I also have a pretty extensive relationship with fashion, and fashion illustration in particular, now that I work so closely with the blog and MODA’s many teams. The hardest part is always overcoming my self doubts. No matter how many times I try to assure myself that everything will be alright, I can’t shake the feeling that something won’t be up to par.  I always fear that some may interpret my collection or illustrations as depictions of oppression against women and I never want that to be the case. I want to showcase my truest vision in my own unique way without offending anyone, and I find that my need to please others can sometimes get in the way of my creative expression.  I will say that I’m thankful to be able to work with so many talented individuals along this journey. From shopping for fabrics with other designers to chit-chatting and strutting with models at rehearsals to all the support I’m getting from the blog and board, I feel elated that I get to share my experiences with so many inspiring people. I look forward to seeing how other people express their stories and visions through their own creations and I also look forward to seeing first hand the hybrid identities that my models create when they put on their looks. 

Oh, plus I heard that there’s a pizza place near the venue. I’m excited for that too.

What’s your favorite aspect of the design process? 

I like watching my designs and models merge. Strange to hear, but I like how my models really develop into characters when they put on my wardrobe pieces. I watched my model put on one of the coats from my collection while it was still held together with pins and I instantly saw her become a hyper-version of herself.  It really did feel like some kind of Sailor Moon transformation. My heart did skip a beat when she took the coat off during a run-through—all I could think about was how many safety pins would go flying…

I always want to explore the effect that clothing has on the wearer, how a wearer’s personality shifts with what they wear, and what kind of hybrid identity is formed at the intersection of humanity and fashion.

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

My collections are and will always be love letters to the people who inspire me. I think this season, I wanted to thank the women who use their unique attributes to make me feel like I can conquer anything. The women in my life, including my three models, but also the women I work with on the blog, on the board, in my house and among my family and friends. They’re all icons of feminine strength: an innate and powerful ability to build communities, reshape perspectives and engage with the world in a multitude of impressive ways. That being said, I imagined this season’s woman to be a dancer, as my mother is a dancer, and dance has been quite a prominent part of my childhood, but also because the use of extreme discipline to form extreme beauty of dance carries through the essence of my collection. I find that the women in my life are individuals who possess a discipline and sense of self that fosters an inspiring kind of beauty. Bold, creative, compassionate and free are four words that come to mind right away, but the woman of my collection is surely composed of even more inspiring qualities that I see and feel every day. 

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

Make a plan but don’t be afraid to experiment.  I was once told that a good sketch can take a collection far, but sometimes in order to realize that sketch I really have to think in a different way.  I wanted to experiment with altering patterns this year and making my own patterns by cloning my own wardrobe. Fashion construction can be a very precise and tedious process, but it also leaves room for much experimentation, and I wish that I would have known that I would be so capable of extrapolating a vision from the resources that I already had. Then again, this is coming from the same guy who decided to just make an entire collection out of safety pins and paper so perhaps in some ways, resourcefulness and creative problem solving are inherent parts of my creative process.

Cover photo courtesy of Natalia Rodriguez, see more of her work here.