AUT - Diana Eng Visits AUT
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Diana Eng Visits AUT
The term Fashion Nerd is synonymous with Diana Eng, American fashion designer who’s probably most well known for her participation in Project Runway. She is also a Victoria's Secret designer and recently released ‘Fashion Geek: Clothes, Accessories, Tech’ a DIY book.
Diana is CoLab’s first resident this year. Apart from an exhibition of her work at ST PAUL St Gallery, she conducted workshops in the CoLab Summer Workshop Series on ‘Geek Fashion’ as well as a master class with the Textile Design Lab on illuminated knitwear.
Diana has successfully combined her love for Science, Technology and Fashion to create her own unique products. She shares her experience and advice for aspiring fashion designers.
3 things you should know about being a fashion designer:
1. Do lots of research, be aware of all the different trends and really look at what other people are doing, cause I think fashion is like a conversation, you can’t really participate if your stuff is not relevant. When you’re a student, a lot of times, you feel like you want to be original and not copy what other people are doing so you don’t want to look at what other people are doing but actually you really do need to be aware what other people are doing so that your stuff is relevant.
2. I don’t know what it’s like in the fashion industry here but in New York, it’s really difficult. People say really mean things so you have to make sure to have a tough skin. You have to start out as an intern and people are just going to be horrible to you but if you want to really learn about the industry, you need to put up with it. It’s good to have a humble idea of who you are because lots of other people know a lot more than you, so you don’t wanna get caught up in thinking you already know things when there’s a very good opportunity to learn from others. So really number two is be humble and not mind being pushed around if you’re an intern somewhere and be open to learning things.
3. I also think it’s really important that you can take your time to find your voice as a designer and figure out who you are. And it’s important to explore lots of different things while you are trying to find it and be patient while you’re on your way to getting there.
What advice would you offer to a fashion student who’s struggling with this?
Explore lots of different types of fashion, research all types of designers from the past and look at things they’ve been doing because you’ll probably find inspiration from the things that you like and want to do things that are similar. Don’t be afraid to try new things too. When you find something you like, it’s not bad to copy because you actually learn a lot from copying something. You learn about how it’s constructed so that when you make your own garment, it has the same type of construction but it’s your own design.
Speaking of which, who inspires you?
I like Issey Miyake and Martin Margiela, they were my biggest inspirations. Especially Issey Miyake. When I was a student during the 90s, he was really pioneering, working with different technologies and he’d collaborate with different artistes/engineers. He had a project – A-POC (A Piece of Cloth) that he worked on with some computer scientists and they created a programme weaving entire pieces of clothing.
What are you pursuing now?
My big thing right now is creating products; sourcing the right manufacturers who are willing to experiment with the different materials to create products that I’ll be able to wear.
Any inspirations from your time here at AUT?
I really liked the knitting machine, it’s really cool! Also I felt the students in the classes were really enthusiastic and I’ve been really inspired by their enthusiasm.