MODA Designer Profile: Isabel Sobolewski

Isabel Sobolewski is a first-year molecular engineering major and math minor from Chicago. She was ambitious enough to take on the role of being a designer from the get-go, so I sat down with her to understand her passion for design and the inspiration behind her collection.

Being that you’re a first-year, I want to start with two questions that go hand-in-hand. What made you want to join MODA and what made you want to do the designing portion specifically?

Before school started I had heard about MODA, but I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Then, my best friend here decided to apply for MODA and I thought oh, well I love sewing so I might as well apply because I have designs that I’ve always wanted to make but I don’t have a reason to make them. So, I felt that this would be a good opportunity to make them and also just learn and grow my skills because I’m self-taught. So when I joined I was super excited, obviously.

 You said you were self-taught in sewing. Can you talk about your background in that?

 Yeah! I got my sewing machine in fourth grade from my grandma who is a seamstress and she took me to a couple of sewing classes and taught me how to sew. It was mostly basics, like how to make a purse because I was young. Then, I stopped sewing for a little bit because I didn’t have time and I forgot about the sewing machine. But later on, I took a textile class in high school where we had to sew, crochet, and knit. At first I became obsessed with crochet, so I crochet a lot now, but over quarantine I realized I’m obsessed with shopping but I wanted to become more sustainable. So, I wanted to start making my own clothes, and that’s where it really started to blossom. That’s when I really started to dedicate myself to learn new techniques and design new outfits I had never seen before.

What are the main themes of your collection?

Focusing on how fabrics move. My designs come from nowhere, really. I just think of them, I like to look at how the fabric moves when someone walks. I’ve always been obsessed with it so I wanted to make designs that revolve around that, designs that move in different ways and have very mobile parts to them. One of my dresses looks like it’s a ribbon that’s wrapped around someone and it has chains holding up each layer. That’s a dress I’ve been wanting to make for years. I’m almost done with it and I already love the way it looks when someone walks in it - I love the way it bounces. I know a lot of my designs aren’t something you would wear every day, I kind of drew from the Met Gala in that I wanted to make things that are out there.

 What are some of the most challenging and rewarding moments of the design process?

One of the biggest challenges for me right now is that because I’m self-taught I’ve never sewed on someone else or sewed for someone else, so before, if I made something that didn’t fit correctly, I could just fix it. But now because of COVID, I don’t have that access to go to the model and fix it. The biggest reward is seeing it all come together and be like “Yesssss, it worked! It looks amazing, it’s better than I could have imagined!” That’s one of the best feelings and knowing that you made that and that was all you is super rewarding.

How are you feeling about the show with it being virtual? Has covid impacted your work in any way?

I don’t think it has impacted my work. I had a model who decided she didn’t want to do the show anymore and in hindsight, it was kind of helpful because she was wearing my hardest design to make, so now I have to model it which makes it easier on me. I didn’t want to have my looks affected in any way because I wanted them to come out how I imagined them when I submitted them for the application. I’m hoping they turn out as great as I want them to.

 Do you have a design philosophy? What drives you in your design process?

I guess it’s color, really. I love wearing colorful clothing so if I see a colorful fabric I like to think, “What can I make out of that?” So that’s what drives me. And sometimes I’ll just sit there and say, “What do I want to make today?” and then I’ll just see what fabrics I have and make that. I’m also a very wing-it kind of girl, so a lot of my things are winging it and hoping it turns out well, but for MODA I have to be super structured so that’s also a huge learning process.

Have you ever had “fashion-designers block?” Or do things come easy to you?

A couple of times I have, and those are the times when sewing isn’t coming to me so I’ll just crochet. And when I crochet it’s easy for me to think of other things I want to design. I also draw a lot of inspiration from things around me like colors, so it does kind of come easy to me but sometimes it takes a little bit longer.

If you could describe your collection in three words, what would they be?

Colorful, eclectic, mobile.