Designer Profile 2022: Vivian Li
Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting down with third year Vivian Li to talk about her collection and inspiration. Outside of designing, Viv is a Art History major and one of the new incoming EIC of MODA Blog. Viv takes the same painterly aesthetic in her other medias of art and takes that directly into her designs. Here’s a little more about her collection and third time designing for the fashion show:
Give me the rundown of your designs this year:
It’s soft, flowy, and epitomizes spring. The designs went through a few iterations, but the outfits are currently inspired by flowers. My male model will be wearing a long flowy shirt and pants that symbolize lotus, and my female models will be wearing dresses that symbolize other flowers that I haven’t decided on yet.
Vivian: this isn’t the final design!!!
What inspired you?
My collection this year is inspired by my own discontent with fabric shopping. I hate buying fabrics because they never look like what I envision in my sketches. The color or the texture is never perfect. I would draw a pink dress, for example, then stare at 50 different shades and textures of pink. When I finally decide on a color, the texture isn’t right. I come from a painterly background and doesn’t understand fabric that well, so maybe I’ve been doing this whole design thing wrong. Anyways, this year I thought: why not just make my own and make that my focus? Other than that, nature always inspires me.
How are these different from your last two collections?
My first collection was focused on making my own patterns, using lots of bright satiny colors, and having feminine silhouettes. There were baby blue ruffles, flowers embroidered on pink mesh, and a big chiffon bow. My second collection was inspired by quilt-making, so I spent more than 40 hours making one jacket. Since it was quilt-like, most fabric pierces were thrifted or came from old clothes. This year, the process is completely different because I have spent most of my time dying the fabric instead of sewing things together.
Is there anything you wished you knew when you first started designing?
Not much besides how to dye fabric.
Test dying muslin
Who do you imagine when designing?
My design philosophy is simple: if it looks nice or interesting to me, no matter what style it is, I’m gonna go for it. At the same time, I take my models into consideration and think about what would look nice on them, adjusting my initial design to look more harmonious with their own styles/what I envision them wearing.
What has been your biggest challenge this year so far?
OH BOY. I didn’t know dying fabric would be so hard and time-consuming. I had to research different ways of doing it and different brands, as well as how each kind of fabric would react to the colors. This was completely new to me, and I am still in the process of drenching my fabric in hot water buckets with my kitchen gloves. I first tried to dye muslin, which was definitely a mistake but then I was surprised at how nice my actual fabric looked with the same colors. My boyfriend has been helping me because it’s a LOT of physical labor, so shout out to Mark! On the other hand, making patterns and actually sewing seem easier this year. I decided to go for simpler silhouettes, knowing how much time I will spend on the coloring.
Are you excited for this year’s show?
Super excited! I had lots of good memories from the show two years ago. There was so much excitement and creative energy in the air when we all arrived at the venue. We walked around, carefully laid out our designs, directed people to makeup artists and hairstylists, and had really nice conversations about each others’ collections. I remember helping Andrew (the Blog’s previous previous EIC) contour his abs!
What motivated you to design again?
It’s just something I kept doing, so there wasn’t much thinking going on. It keeps me learning and experimenting!
Will you continue to design outside of the MODA environment?
I really hope so, but I only envision myself working on smaller projects in the near future. I recently made a really cute tote bag as my friend’s birthday gift and I was really proud of it! The instant gratification was insane, so I want to make more tote bags and learn crocheting. I saved all the leftover fabric from my past collections, and making tote bags is so much more relaxing than making clothes. You are just sewing squares and rectangles together. Maybe one day I will work up the courage to start my own brand, but the fashion industry is so saturated and generally not good for the environment. For me, fashion is only one of many creative outlets.
All images provided by Vivian Li
