Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Designer Confidential: Drawing Outside the Lines

Designer Confidential highlights the work of SU's greatest fashion asset: its student designers.

While many fashion students will tell you that they find inspiration for their pieces in the collections of their favorite designers, sophomore fashion design major Janet Suh has a different approach. “I don’t read blogs or look at other designer’s collections...when I look at ...other people’s collections, I start copying exactly what they do.” Instead, Janet sticks with what she knows and does best; adding graphic touches to simple garments. Common motifs in her work include eye-catching all-over prints and monochromatic linework.


A skirt she constructed for her final project last year illustrates this tendency perfectly. Sewn in white linen and covered in bold black designs; she draws on the aesthetic of Diana Cooper, a mixed media artist. A blazer meant to be worn with the skirt is given a similar treatment, with jagged sleeves and a dramatic webbed design emblazoned on each shoulders.

Janet finds inspiration in everyday objects as well. She created a dress out of metro cards, topping it off with hand-painted stripes along the bodice for a look that melds together her pattern-centric style and childhood spent in and around the Big Apple.

Dream Job: “I’m the type of person who[will] either [be] poor on the streets or rich and famous...[and] I can’t picture myself [working] the normal nine to five job. [I]'d like to be a designer or something else in the fashion field...I'm not completely sure yet specifically, but I love making dresses."


Why you should look out for her: She wants to impact more than just the fashion industry: “There’s so much else to the world ...[I'd] love [to] get involved with underprivileged kids...kids from bad areas."


Designer Confidential: Janet grew up surrounded by the arts: her brother is studying to become a graphic designer, her mother and aunt are art teachers, and her father is a tailor.


-Julie Kosin

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