Academy of Art University students show at New York City Fashion Week

The fashion industry is filled with creative and talented Asian Fashion Designers. This past fall, The School of Fashion at Academy of Art University presented the Spring 2008 collections of its recent graduates during Fashion Week at Bryant Park.

“Part of our commitment to the graduate designers is to help launch their careers and have their collections seen by as many industry people as possible”, said Dr. Elisa Stephans, president of the University. “Debuting the collections during New York Fashion Week makes sense as the national and international fashion community is in town at that time.”

Asiance was at the show and was very impressed with the talent on the runway. Read on to learn more about some of our favorites!!

Sharon Chia Yu Yeh, MFA Textile Design

“Traveling into unchartered bliss. Rhythm of San Francsco.”
Her partner is James Yoest, MFA

James and Sharon have created a sustainable collection using organic, conventional and reused fabrics, including parachute and natural dyes. James imagined a woman on a journey when developing his silhouettes and Sharon was inspired by the rhythm of San Francisco for her textiles. Sharon lives in San Mateao, CA.

ASIANCE: What is your background?

Sharon Chia: I was born and raised in Taiwan.

ASIANCE: Why did you decide to get into design?

Sharon Chia: Ever since high school, I have always been interested in fine arts and print making skills utilized in textiles design. Decorative shapes, forms, interior design and pattern design on variety of materials created unlimited possibility of style trends throughout the years.

ASIANCE: Do you incorporate your culture into your designs?

Sharon Chia: Sometimes I do. It depends on the collection objective.

ASIANCE: What do your parents think that you took the more artistic route instead of the “traditional” occupations normally pushed on us by our parents.

Sharon Chia: Lucky for me, my parents are supportive of my passion in the artistic field. They didn’t pressure me to do traditional occupations like business, accounting or engineering.

ASIANCE: Who are your biggest influences? What or who influences your designs?

Sharon Chia: Lotta Jansdotter, a Scandinavian born textile designer who is living in New York now.

ASIANCE: Where do you find inspiration?

Sharon Chia: Throughout my travels, I am often inspired by the designs that I find abroad. When looking at designs in a foreign land, a designer can’t help but think of how the history of the location has impacted the creative process and appreciate the piece. Often these travel journals from various locations serve as great resources of inspiration for my own designs; thus, these collections are my way of bringing those experiences to life through my own eyes.

For the fashion show collection with James Yoest, the textile concept I developed for this collection is based on surrounding environments that I discovered in city of San Francisco. The rhythm of the city is fascinating, as if there is random interlock segments organized in an ambiguous way; when put together, somehow it all makes sense. The city is fashionable with a twist of street funkiness and full of surprises.

ASIANCE: Who is your favorite designer?

Sharon Chia: Nicolas Ghesquière (Balencia), Alexander McQueen, Tord Boontje

ASIANCE: What are you doing now after your graduation?

Sharon Chia: I would like to stay in the Bay Area and continue my career. I look forward to working for a modern and contemporary home interior textiles design company or graphic tees design company. Once established, I’d like to start my own line of textile surface designs.

ASIANCE: Where will you be 10 years from now?

Sharon Chia: I hope 10 years from now, I will have already launched my own collection line in a well establish company or have my own company to pursue my passion.

Haa Cheng Thai

“Kirigami. Be bold yet respectful. Satisfaction of creative energy to form shapes and develop concepts beyond imagination.”
Kirigami, the Japanese art of paper folding and cutting, is shown through Haa Cheng’s shapes, folds and laser-cut fabrics. She is from Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, a suburb of the capital of Kuala Lumpur. www.haachengthai.com

ASIANCE: What is your background?

Haa Cheng: I am a Malaysian Chinese. I was born in Petaling Jaya, a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. I am the youngest in the family of 5 siblings. My family is a very typical Malaysian family; with a stay-at-home-mom that home cooked meals everyday. At a very young age, probably at about 8 years old, I developed a hobby drawing paper dolls and clothing. I had at least 100 pieces of paper clothes for each doll! My family, especially my mom always encouraged me to explore and learn different skills. I was a curious child and always making crafts from paper roses, to kitchen aprons!

ASIANCE: Why did you decide to get into design?

Haa Cheng: When I was 15 years old, I saw a fashion show on the television. It was John Galliano. I remembered how flamboyant and passionate he was, and his great ability to create art in clothing designs. Then I was preparing for my PMR (Pernilaian Menengah Rendah or Lower Secondary Assessment) examination. A pass was required for promotion to a higher secondary education level. Although, I had decided to be a Fashion Designer, I chose to be in a Science stream the last 2 years of high school because I had high results on the PMR. I thought that was the right path to take.

Right after high school, I enrolled in a fashion training centre. I did not even wait for my high school SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, a national examination equivalent to the British GCSE) results! Back then in Malaysia, Fashion Design education was still very limited and only up to diploma (college) level. My college had a training program in Paris the final year in order to obtain a Bachelor of Arts.

ASIANCE: Do you incorporate your culture into your designs?

Haa Cheng: Not so much of the Malaysian culture in general, but definitely my upbringing and family value that assisted me in designing. I am from a conservative Muslim country. Although I am Chinese descent, we are taught at an early age to be respectful and proper. I would say that in the early stage of my design career, I tended to be influenced by western culture. After all, the “Fashion World” is in the West. For my final project in Paris, I made a historical costume similar to the Madame de Pompadour’s gown in her famous portrait! Now, I certainly incorporate more of Asian culture, especially Japanese in my designs.

ASIANCE: What do your parents think that you took the more artistic route instead of the “traditional” occupations normally pushed on us by our parents?

Haa Cheng: My parents are very supportive. They have never asked me to do anything that I did not want to. Although my parents grew up in poverty, they gave me the freedom to explore my chosen field within their means. I am very lucky and thankful to my family. Without them, I will not be here, pursuing my childhood dream.

ASIANCE: Who are your biggest influences? What or who influences your designs?

Haa Cheng: When I first started, I refused to look at fashion magazines. I did not want to be influenced to design anything similar, consciously or subconscious. To be honestly, even now, I hardly browse through any fashion magazines or websites for my own personal work. Of course, as a student I can get away with that.

Once I got into the working world, my whole perception changed. I learned to appreciate the hard work of all trend forecasters, and benefit greatly to produce acceptable, commercial designer collections within the company budget.

Alexandra Ilyin, the owner and designer of Noblu Inc influences my designs a lot. She is simply the best ‘fashion people’ that understand the business without sacrificing design.

ASIANCE: Where do you find inspiration?

Haa Cheng: Most of my inspiration comes from observing nature. I enjoy watching clouds forming in bare blue sky, new sprouts from a plant and all other amazing natural acts. Fine details such as the texture on leaves, the uneven shape of rocks, twisted tree branches and colorful flowers inspire me to draw and design. I am also attracted to unusual shapes of man made objects and interesting combinations of colors. Basically, I am a visual person, with great admiration for nature.

ASIANCE: Favorite designer?

Haa Cheng:Definitely John Galliano and Comme des Garçons.

ASIANCE: What are you doing now after your graduation?

Haa Cheng: I have secured a job at the design and manufacturing company, Noblu in SOMA of San Francisco. I will be involved in production, learning the fashion business, and hopefully build connections for my own future business.

ASIANCE: Where will you be 10 years from now?

Haa Cheng: Running a profitable fashion company with my own high-end designer brand. Hopefully in the United States, the great country of opportunity!

Yiting Maxim Lee

“Through design I reach a playground where ideas find expression.”
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a magna written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki, inspired Maxim. The Japanese comic is famous for its original art style, over-the-top violence, intricate plot and rock music references. Maxim is from Taipei, Taiwan.

ASIANCE: What is your background?

Yiting: My ethnicity is Hakka. My family was originally from southern Chinese provinces of Fujian and Guangdong. I majored in French at Fu Jen University of Taiwan, and 2 years after graduation (during the time I worked for some companies) I came to the Unites Stated to continue my study in Fashion Design.

ASIANCE: Why did you decide to get into design?

Yiting: In my culture, people think that if you’re not a business type of person, then it will be good to learn at least one skill which will help you in life. They believe it will be a key to open another door. Personally, I so agree with this theory, and that’s why I had language as my first major. The main reason why I decided to get into design after learning a language was because I realized that I like to work on things that I can develop deeper and visualize my ideas. I could not do that with language related jobs. I chose Fashion Design because of the influence on my dad’s job. He worked for Japanese cosmetic company Shiseido. During my childhood, every season he would always bring back magazines and samples that amazed me.

ASIANCE: Do you incorporate your culture into your designs?

Yiting: Yes I think so, especially colors. It is hard to say which colors belong to my background, but what I use definitely is part of my life experience. Taiwanese traditional culture uses bright colors for festivals and decorations. There are also a lot of contrasts, for some reason logic like this exists in my mind.

ASIANCE: What do your parents think that you took the more artistic route instead of the “traditional” occupations normally pushed on us by our parents?

Yiting: I’m so glad that my parents are the ones who always encouraged me to think outside of my small world. They always said that what most people want may not be the right thing for me. They understand I am not a business type of person. A lot of time they just want to see me figure things out, let them know and then go for it. My parents are actually very traditional and conservative just like most parents are. I really feel grateful that they offered me their opinion as choice instead of making the decision for me.

ASIANCE: Who are your biggest influences? What and who influences your designs?

Yiting: My mom definitely influenced my sense of beauty. She has her own elegant taste. In some way I learned how to see the beauty of a thing or a garment. Now, when I work on my designs, I judge them from time to time so that I can make some adjustments to my work.

ASIANCE: Where do you find inspiration?

Yiting: I found myself very interested in comic books since junior high school. Even now as a 28 year old woman, I still like to read some of them. One of my favorite Japanese comics “JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure” became my inspiration. I am attracted to the characters in JoJo. The style is so unique and avant garde. There is some kind of fresh chemistry I found in the story that Hirohiko Araki created. They are even in my dreams and colors just pop out of my head. How can I not let this be my inspiration? That’s why I started this collection.

ASIANCE: Favorite designer?

Yiting: All the designers are very very good. Among them I will say John Galliano is my favorite because of his bold but delicate designs. He is one of the best (my personal opinion for sure) who knows how to play colors.

ASIANCE: What are you doing now after your graduation?

Yiting: I am making my own website. It is still in process but will have all my current designs and my future designs. Hopefully, it will add some exposure for me to let more people know about my designs.

ASIANCE: Where will you be 10 years from now?

Yiting: It’s not predictable in which country I will be in 10 years. 30-40 is a very important 10 years of my life, a lot of things and responsibilities are waiting for me. I know there are many good places for me to be learning new things, but fashion design will be the area I will be working in the next 10 years, for sure.