MODA Designer Profile: Vivian Li
I am a second year Art History major, still trying to figure out a cool second major or minor. I’ve lived in Shenzhen, Beijing, and San Francisco for 6 years each — now I’m in Chicago! Besides writing, designing for MODA and a part-time job on campus, I haven’t done anything else this year. Quarantine made me want to become a hermit in the woods.
What are some sources of inspiration for your collection?
I LOVE plaid and checks. It started with Vans and somehow evolved to Bottega — I never actually got Vans but I did get a Bottega bag. I also own a checkered rug, an armchair, a shirt, and a pair of jeans. I also bought a vintage cookbook solely for the white-and-blue checkered cover. I might go crazy soon and paint checkered patterns on everything I own.
The summer before freshman year, I actually tried to make a quilted duvet cover but gave up due to neck pain. I’m making a quilted jacket this year and struggling with the same neck pain. I also got into thrifting, so I thrifted a lot of my fabrics for the jacket, including old pillow cases, curtains, and faded jeans. Just trying to be sustainable and make use of old stuff that nobody wants.
Have you ever done fashion design work before? What are some of the most challenging and rewarding aspects of the process?
I designed last year. How I managed to make three outfits I truly cannot tell you, but I did spend the entire winter break sewing or stressing about sewing. This year is a lot more relaxing because I’m only making one outfit. It’s also easier this year because I already know, for example, what a sleeve looks like and how to attach it to the shoulder. The most challenging aspect is “making” my fabric. Sewing together my first mock-up (with muslin) took less than two hours, but I spent more than seven hours on Sunday and finished only the jacket sleeves.
However, as time-consuming and exhausting as quilting gets, I find the process to be meditative and quite comforting. I studied painting for more than ten years, never really into sculptures, but fashion design is as close as it gets to sculpting something. How an idea in my head becomes a drawing on paper then transforms into a physical reality on somebody else’s body is truly amazing.
Image via
Who do you have in mind when you’re designing?
Yayoi Kusama
Photos and thumbnail thanks to Vivian Li
