MODA Designer Profile: David Schalop II

David Schalop is a 3rd-year undergraduate, double majoring in Business Economics and Art History. He is one of two Design Directors for the MODA fashion show this year--in charge of the logistics for the show which ranges from recruiting new designers and making sure they are show-ready, as well as mentoring returning designers. David has also worked on building the Design Bootcamp’s curriculum and is designing his own collection for the show.

We talked over Zoom, which was useful given that a lot of the art he discusses is on his bedroom wall.

What are some of your inspirations for your collections? How was working with seasons for your last collection altered your current inspiration?

My collection is going to talk a little about Covid and the pandemic, specifically I’m thinking about light and the way in which we didn’t get a lot of light the past year given that we were held up inside...It is using a sort of technical process called cyanography. It is an early process people used in printing and photography. It is basically the reason why people talk about blueprints, as the print comes out blue in the replication process.

I’m hoping to make my clothes where I’m essentially taking white fabric, sew an outfit, and on top of it do the cyanographic process. I’m both going to do it ahead of time as well as do some of the prints during the show if I can. Given that it is a light-sensitive process, as once you expose it to light it chemically transforms and then you’re left with the print, it can happen during the show. The process of the show is creating the work, as much as the work is made for the show. Being interested in art and art history, these are the kinds of things I am interested in.

Last year I used essentially the same fabric for all the seasons, which resulted in a thick, winter knit for all of them. I just slapped on a leaf or a snowflake so that it looked like the different seasons even though it was not really that different. This year I really am creating spring clothing, so using linen that is very light that actually matches the season. I’m learning to make the material match the content, something which I talk a lot about in my art classes. I’m definitely leaving behind the heavy knit fabrics.

I am more interested in the hands-on nature and creating process as opposed to knowing the fashion industry, but I did recently see a clip of a show where the models were in these huge balloons and as they walked, the balloons fell down onto their bodies. I could say that’s what inspired me but no it’s really the photographic stuff. I took a class this fall that was material-oriented since my professor is a chemist at the Art Institute. We made these photograms, which are the same kind of [light-sensitive] print.

Have you had a chance to create your own work outside of fashion?

I definitely have. I bought some wallpaper and started to cut it out and transformed it. In the realm of reusing, during the fall, I would just walk around all the back alleys in Hyde Park and see if there was anything cool. I found this old rocking chair which had one of its rocker fallen off, so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to stick it back on. I found the process really exciting. When I’m in the process, I don’t think about anything else—I don’t have anxiety or think of what’s coming up.

Any new photographers that have inspired you?

Paul Mpagi Sepuya—he does a lot of work with queer themes which I’ve written a lot of my art history papers on. He is definitely someone that I have looked at his work more recently and thought about just how layered it is. Layered in a very literal sense, as you almost can’t make sense of what you are looking at. But also obviously layered in another sense, in terms of its themes and what it is discussing. There’s also an artist called Claude Cahoon who I have been thinking a lot about recently. She also was very gender-bending and before her time in terms of the issues she was tackling.

Are these themes of queerness and nonconformity something you are implementing?

I would say in general I can’t say that in my personal dress breaks gender norms, but since this year I am designing for two girls and one guy, I am making clothes that maybe I would want to wear. I am making these linen pants that are going to have a big bow-tie in the front, which are quite common, but they never make them for “men.” I think it is something that would look really cool on men, and I am really interested in exploring it even if my models identify as women.

How has the past year changed the way you view your photography and designs?

A big part of what has been challenging about the pandemic is that I think creativity is very collaborative. I’ve learned a lot of how people in the past have categorized great artists as these kinds of male geniuses whose art just comes to them and have this magical understanding of the world. When in reality, as all of us have been discussing and learning about, is what makes people successful in a conventional way is the institutional advantage of having network connections. So I think making is very collaborative, which is one of the things I am sad about this year. As a part of the Design Bootcamp last year in person, we would work in Logan, and the six of us became really great friends. We would go there, mess around and make what we made, and chat about life and design. So in leading the Design Bootcamp this year, it’s been sad that the new members have had less of a chance to get to hang out with each other, and even from a creative perspective, bounce ideas off each other and come up with a different set of ideas from seeing what others are producing. I use to see what others were making, and I thought, “Hmm, that is something I would like to incorporate.” So that is something I am optimistic about getting back to where we were.

Do you have a ritual to start designing? Do you write down quick ideas as they come to you, or do you prefer to sit down and work through them?

Definitely, “this came to me” approach. I mean there’s both, but a big thing that I like to stress is that I get so much inspiration from what other people are wearing. As I walk around I’ll see someone wearing something and I’ll be like, “Ooh, I really want something that looks like that!” I think it is interesting how oftentimes I am less interested by something like an ad or from a company and more from other people I seek out what that person is wearing. In a similar vein, that is how I got the inspiration for the bowtie linen pants I mentioned early. I saw a bunch of people wearing them last summer back home when I was walking around NYC. I can also distinctly remember biking on the lake and thinking, “Ooh I really want to do something like that!” and grabbing my phone and typing in the Notes App, one-hundred percent.

Is there a way you like to sketch out your designs?

I like sketching, but I don’t have the best hand for it to be honest. Things are better in my head and in the machine than on paper. I took “On Images” last quarter, which was an interesting experience because even though it is an introductory class but I think it made me much more competent as far as sketching by hand. I did a lot of ink drawings too which was really cool. My final project is this sewing machine. It was a lot about figure and background, and so I tried to make the background like some sort of fabric—it has a sort of like diamond shape to it like a sweater. The figure is the machine and they are sort of intertwined, one could say. That was definitely something that I have been thinking about a lot. I really like to do things that are...I have never felt bound to one medium, I know that’s such a cliche thing to say, but as I said earlier I love to work on a chair then sew then take a picture. I felt for a long time that I needed to focus on one thing, but then I realized no, I just like making things. Whatever it may be, I am cooling making those things. This thing on my wall is the poster from last year’s show, and I chopped it up and glued it onto a background. I used pinking shears that are used for sewing projects. You can see my name and I chopped it up.

What movies or shows have you watched recently with fashion that speaks to you?

One thing that I found really interesting about Lady Bird is that the fashion was really particular to the early 2000s. I love to watch things that take place during a specific time period because you get a view into a (dramatized version but still) version of that era. The early 2000s are close enough to the things that we see today. I have two sisters that are always talking about, “Oh that went out of style or this came back in style.” But I’m always like if I find something cool, it just stays in style—there’s no in and out. I don’t buy into that. But it is definitely interesting to see what is more popular and less popular throughout time. TV and movies create a very romanticized version of that.

I also like old English fashion, and there is one episode of Sherlock where Benedict Cumberbatch has this jacket that is like a camel coat that has a shawl collar, sort of like a wool tan jacket. I am positive that they made the jacket for him in the episode and it was just a costume. I have never been able to find it, but if I was a famous person I would ask for it. I really like that type of Sherlock fashion despite being placed not within a specific time period but still paying homage to those past moments.

Any brands or design houses that have piqued your interest?

Honestly no, I really just like certain design things, not as many brands. I am much more interested in patterns, geometric shapes...any company can make it as long as it looks cool I want to wear it. So like for my collection last year I did a lot of color blocking, and this is something I like in terms of the stuff I buy. My favorite shoes are Air Force 1’s that are half-black-half-white. My friend Kekee that I made through MODA gave me these Levi’s that are half-and-half. So yeah it doesn’t matter if it’s Nike or that brand.

What are you most looking forward to from the fashion show?

Being that I am part of helping everyone reach their design goals, I am really excited to see what other designers come up with. It has been a really challenging year and we’ve had a lot of people that have decided less than they intended to or maybe less ambitious. We think that’s great because this is not necessarily the year that is going to allow for everyone to do everything they hoped and dreamed of. But whatever people put forward, it’s going to be incredible, and I am excited to see how they rose to the occasion!