Designer Profile 2023: Isabel Sobolewski

For my second time interviewing Isabel, I was immensely excited, both because I hadn’t seen her in ages and we were finally getting coffee, and because of her energy when it comes to creating. Chatting with her felt like a breath of fresh air from the exhaust circulating from the 3 pm carpool line at the 55th Street Starbucks. Before we sat down officially, we hugged excitedly and almost immediately launched into the details of her collection…

M: So, tell me more about this bubble dress! It came to you over the summer, what did that feel like?

I: I was at work, talking to my friend, and wanted to cheer myself up so I started thinking about MODA. I came up with my theme last year at the show during practice, and for some reason I was like, ‘jellyfish, it has to be jellyfish,’ and that stuck with me. I tried other things and was still like ‘no, it needs to be jellyfish.’ I came up with three of the designs right then?

M: Wow, okay, in that moment?

I: Yeah, I knew I wanted to do knitwear this year because I’ve done aspects of crochet and knitting, so now I want to do full items of clothing.

M: Yes, fully knit!

I: Right, so I’m gonna have one fully knit outfit, one jellyfish-like one, and I also wanted to use leather in an outfit, so there’s gonna be a cool asymmetrical leather piece as well.

M: Yum, where did the leather come from?

I: I love working with leather.

M: I love that; I feel like it’s a bit difficult, no?

I: Yes, that’s what I loved about it. It has to be exact and I love the learning curve; it somehow always looks so good. Same with denim, it’s so hard to work with but it’s so satisfying.

M: Especially your skirt!

I: Thank you, yeah!

M: Okay, so, leather, knitwear, bubble dresses; where do you think you’re going with this show and how do you think you’ve evolved since last show?

I: Well, first and foremost, I feel like my looks were a bit disjointed, like if you didn’t know what the inspiration was. This year, I wanted to focus on making a very cohesive collection…

M: Cohesive in that when you see it, you know type thing? Because theme and theory is its own kind of cohesion, but this is…

I: Physical cohesion.

M: Give me the boy band.

I: Yes, exactly, but more ‘give me the girl group.’

M: Okay, so we’re doing another womenswear-only collection!

I: Always! I’m a womenswear designer, that’s what I love to do. I want to make things that I want to wear.

M: Do you find yourself wanting to wear or wearing your past pieces?

I: Absolutely, I already make a lot of my clothes, well, I’d like to in my free time. Those orange pants, though, from last year fit me so I wear those.

M: Yes, I remember that yellow knit top and orange pant set! I really liked that look!

I: See, that was my favorite design and is kind of what I’m working off of. I just love knitwear and leather.

M: Cool! So, when you’re making clothes are you thinking about the femme body? As in, are you making the clothes for yourself, or the model’s body, or…?

I: Yeah, for MODA, I’m really conscientious about that; I want to make sure that the clothes work with the model’s body, so I’ll add and mix and match fabrics to suit her so that she’s comfortable while trying not to compromise my design ideas. I want them to be comfortable, first and foremost. Like the bubble dress, that’s a statement piece to keep in my closet and portfolio forever, so it can be a little adjusted for the model for sure.

M: That’s amazing, I’m just thinking about that dress being in the back of the closet - you put it there, I’m yanking it out!

I: she laughs And she has purple accessories, I’m very excited! I wanted to do a nod to the late 2000s, but with a modern twist. There’s a bit of mohair in there…

M: Nice, so when you think about this collection as a unified story, what do you think about?

I: I chose jellyfish because I love their translucency, but they’re such powerful and strong creatures. They look so delicate like you could break them, but I’m terrified of them. So, I think I wanted to play with that; they’re so delicate but so powerful. A powerful woman is wearing that piece; a badass.

M: What goes into making clothes for a badass? What’s the inspiration?

I: I want to bring out confidence.

M: A catalyst.

I: Yeah, it comes from within and I want the clothes to bring that out. As for inspiration, it often comes from objects and rocks and, like, fungi, and taking a small detail and blowing it up. Fungi; that’s one of my next ideas!

M: Okay, jellyfish to fungi pipeline. This is your third time ‘round, how’s that?

I: It’s amazing! We had a little brunch and I was like flexing my veteran status just a little bit. It’s cool to be a helping hand as well.

M; Do you think more community has been made out of MODA?

I: Yeah, I definitely think so, there’s been a lot of funny stuff sent in the Facebook chat, and it’s totally different from anything on campus, so that’s been really lovely. It’s also been nice being there for people when they need help with sewing and stuff.

M: That’s so sweet! How do you take time for yourself even when doing passion work that doesn’t feel like work?

I: Part of my mental relief is the fashion, like give me knitting with an audiobook in? I’ll be lost for hours.

M: How do you feel about the skill economy, like picking up a bunch of skills just to have them?

I: I’m very, ‘Isabel, if you’re going to be good at something, you’re going to be good at it.” I don’t like to pick up things just to do it; why do something if you’re not going to try to be good at it?

M: Fair. What about when you do pick up hobbies and they don’t stick?

I: That kind of happened with embroidery because it takes so much time to finish one project, so I kind of dropped it. I’ll pick it up if I need to for a look, but I spent weeks on beadwork for one look last year, and I was like, “I’m never doing this again!” But, lo and behold, I’m doing another one this year.

M: Perseverance for sure!

Check out Isabel and more info on the MODA Fashion Show on our website (here) and our Instagram @modachicago