Trends | Design | Styles
Volume 1. Spring 2016
is a publication that showcases international emerging fashion designers. The magazine presents creative works through fashion designers’ profiles. It also features exclusive stories via access to designers’ inspirations, open studios, retail stores, and more. It’ s about creative individuals and their unique visions and focuses on the ultimate question: What does fashion mean to you?
Contents
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Letter from the editor 6-27
Trend
Wild Card Accessory: Scarf The Hottest "IT" Bag
28-53
Fashion Review
Jarel Zhang F/W 2016 Palmer//Harding F/W 2016 Cristina Ruale S/S 2016
Volume 1. Spring 2016
54-83
Design
Shihkai Tai Eva Meneghini Strategies for emerging designers 84-105
Street Style Jasmine Jiang Lyric Wilson Brandon Carter Vu Tham 106-121
Editoral Photoshoot Bitter End In Absentia
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Letter from the Editor
How do you discover fashion? For many, it is a fantastic runway show, or
aninterview of a famous fashion designer. Indeed, there are multifaceted approaches to learn about fashion. You might think that high fashion is unattainable, on a pedestal and far away from you? That it might be out of reach and one can only appreciate it on screen. However, fashion exists everywhere. Look around yourself; you can find fashion elements all around: in your closet, in a boutique, online, or on a person walking down the street‌ Fashion is omnipresent. In order to show that fashion is around us, we have created a publication to present what we seek in fashion through boutiques, retail stores, street style and more. From them, you will have an opportunity to discover unique fashion. We hope our readers get inspiration in fashion so that they can find their style that really suits them. FashionSeeker is a fashion magazine, but more than anything, we present the question: What you are seeking? After exploring our magazine, you will find that we also let you know passions from fashion people while you enjoy their fashion looks and works.
Silver He
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Wild Card Accessory Scarf
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“A woman who does not wear a scarf has no future,” said Elizabeth Taylor, the famed actress and fashion icon who embodied elegance, grace and vintage style. For Taylor, a scarf was one of the classic accessories to accentuate her personal and unique outfits. Indeed, although a scarf is just a small piece of cloth, it can add splendor to your style. And now, the scarf has reemerged as a trend in the fashion world with different ways to wear it. Don’t look down upon it! We all know that a scarf can be worn casually on our shoulder or around our neck, which is the classic way to wear it. However, the beauty of scarves is that they come in various lengths and shapes, and they can be worn in several ways. Here are some examples:
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Headband
If you have a pair of skillful hands and enough patience, try to
turn the scarf into a headband. When you wrap the colorful scarf headband around your head, you will look like a real fashionista immediately even though you may only be wearing simple jeans, black and white, or other solid color clothes. A scarf headband can also make your face look perfect. If you are not satisfied with your face shape, use a scarf headband to make it look better.
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Pocket Square If you are the woman who prefers tomboy style, you will like this way to wear a scarf. A square scarf in the pocket of a suit coat is the traditional British man’s style, however, it doesn’t mean that it cannot be worn by a woman. It is easy for you to create a cool style when you put a square scarf in your suit pocket as men do. If your scarves are all too long, borrow one from your dad or boyfriend.
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Belt Do you still think that a belt must be made of leather? If so, you are behind the times. Look at the fashion people around you, many have replaced leather belts with scarves. No matter if you are wearing pants or a skirt, when you add a scarf belt, you will be the fashion star among your friends.
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Bracelet
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Try wearing a silk scarf as a bracelet. If you think metal bracelets are a little bit heavy to wear or cost a lot of money to buy, then why not try a scarf bracelet? It is comfortable to wear and it is not expensive. The most important thing is it can really improve your unique style. By the way, you can even wear a silk scarf as a watchband. You will love your watch even more. If you are looking for inspiration, check out Hermes’ Twilly collection.
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Tops Are you getting tired of wearing a bikini every time you go to beach? Then try a scarf top! It is really easy to carry and you can bring more so that you can have more styles when you go on a trip. Choose some of your favorite scarves and enjoy your trip! And be sure you tie the scarf tops tightly when you jump off the water!
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The Hottest "IT" Bag The "Rockstud" Collection of Valentino When someone mentions an “IT” bag, what brands come to mind? Chanel, Balanciaga, or Gucci? Indeed, these brands represent the high priced best sellers in the fashion industry from the 1990s to the 2000s. But, what is the hottest “IT” bag of today? It's Valentino’s Rockstud. Lady Gaga, Anne Hathaway, Beyonce, and Angelina Jolie carry the Rockstud when they attend different events or even they just hang out with their children. The Rockstud has become the hottest “IT” bag in today’s fashion world.
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aria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Picciolio are two designers of the Rockstud collection. The first time we saw the Rockstud collection was in Valentino S/S 2011 Runway show. Compared to previous bag collections also decorated with rivets, the Rockstud collection is unique and betterdesigned. The rivets were designed as a pyramid to make the bags look more fashionable and iconic. Also, the rivet design is combined perfectly with rock n roll style, and it is considered as classical “IT” bag of Valentino, especially the red one.
Valentino F/W 2015 collection showed a new collection, named “My Rockstud”.Different from the cool and wild style of the Rockstud collection, “My Rockstud” tends to be elegant and soft. The style is vintage, like the 80s' style. The smooth texture looks delicate with metal materials. And the rivets on the bag are less prominent than the last collection so that it is soft and easy to carry. Once Valentino introduced this new collection, it became popular again among females who have elegant style.
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Chiuri and Picciolio got inspiration from V, the initial letter of Valentino to design the logo and used it as one decorations of this collection. Since they transfer the logo “V Rockstud” in 1968 to a hangtag of the new collection “My Rockstud”, it became more creative and functional. You can even customize your own bags, since you can request add your name on the special metallic leather of the bags.
Chiuri and Picciolio also provided the bags with removable straps so that you can carry it on your back and hold it in your hands. And you can have both casual and cocktail styles. There are a lot of different colors in “My Rockstud”. In addition to the classical black, white, and pink, you can also see the bags with rainbow colors. And you will be attracted by the unique patterns which show you exotic styles.
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Jarel Zhang An "Architect" in Fashion Design
The emerging Chinese fashion designer Jarel Zhang presented a collection at the 2016 A/W Shanghai Fashion Week that explores the relationship between fashion and architecture. A recent graduate of the University of Arts London, Zhang is developing a fashionista following thanks to his strong and solid silhouettes.
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Zhang chose black and gray as the main colors in this collection. He matched these together to show a cool, independent and chic style. The seams feature the crossing axis patterns which are similar to steel tubular structures you can find in architecture. The combination of these patterns and the smooth dark leather makes a statement: Fashion design is like designing a building. Both should have good quality.
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The geometric silhouette is another brilliant idea Zhang showed us. Triangles, squares, and hexagons are the shapes of buildings. In this collection, Zhang transformed them into geometric patterns on the dresses and coats to reveal the looks of future warriors. Clothing with hard lines and edges presents an electric style. Zhang hopes his futuristic designs will lead a new trend in today’s fashion with architectural shapes.
Palmer//Harding
We Like to Play with Urban Fashion Elements
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What fashion elements convey the urban style? For Palmer//Harding, leather, earthy colors, and grid patterns are some of the most attractive urban fashion components. At the F/W 2016 London Fashion Week, we can see they used these three to create a new collection which showcases a wild spirit in western cities.
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A Light tan skirt is one of the hottest items of this season. Palmer//Harding followed the color trend and brought us an unusual design: One long piece of fabric wrapped casually around the model's waist. The innovative asymmetric cutting is paired with the lush camel wool which shows the good quality of the skirt.
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Palmer//Harding’s F/W 2016 collection also focuses on pattern design. A leather skirt that features stapled mixed color grid patterns was a highlight. It was paired with a ruffled black top to balance the complexity of the skirt. Its urban sensibility is perfect for the independent woman with a daring personality.
Cristina Ruales: A Minimalist Art Lover
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Cristina Ruales is a creative designer who seems to have unlimited ideas. She is known for the minimalist dark aesthetics of past collections, but recently, she lightened her color and brought some special fashion elements to the 2016 S/S New York Fashion Week.​
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50 Black and white are the most classic colors and will not go out of style. The pattern on Ruales's top is simple yet looks like a Chinese ink drawing. It represents minimalist art which shows us a clean style. The asymmetric bottom of the top enhances the unique design shape.
53 Wide leg pants are one of the hottest items these days. Ruales chose a light texture for her flowing white pants, which have the bonus of making the wearer appear elegant and slim. Additionally, the black line pattern on the side of the pants elongates the wearer’s legs.
Shihkai Tai When a Sneaker Meets a Chinese Opera Mask ​ 55
Essay
Silver He
Photography Lin Xu
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57 Shihkai Tai is an emerging fashion designer from Taiwan. Two years ago, his dream brought him to San Francisco, a city full of artists, to pursue a fashion design career. And now, he is also a graduate student in Fashion Merchandising at Academy of Art University. Before he came to San Francisco, he worked in Taiwan as a footwear designer. However, when he arrived here and got closer to fashion and art, he found his passion for fashion. From then on, he decided to design sneakers, which combine fashion style and comfort. “I hope my designs not only make people feel relaxed, but also make them look fashionable,� he says.
When Tai was an undergraduate student, he majored in anthropology. Although he was not study fashion directly, he gained a lot of knowledge about different kinds of cultures and how they use clothing to express themselves. As time passed, he became interested in various types of fashion, art, and culture. He believes that every race and culture has its own aesthetics. Therefore, he started to find beauty and fashion in his daily life and tried to combine them with different cultural inspirations and references to come up with new design ideas.
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“Inspiration comes from our daily life. I do not have any special ideas because that will limit the possibility of design. I would like to feel life, and get inspirations from experience,” he says. Indeed, as a fashion designer, he has to try his best to find new fashion elements. With his unique insight, Tai designs canvas sneakers with patterns ranging from Hakka Flowers to ancient Chinese characters and Daba mountains. He also uses patterns inspired by nature, such as wildflowers and persimmons.
Tai says his favorite styles are American casual and Britpop yuppie. “Although these two styles are a little bit in conflict, I still like to mix them together,” he says. For him, a single style can make a person look monotonous. If we can match two different styles to create another new outfit, that will be interesting and make you different from others. Tai also uses this idea in his design. When a sneaker meets a Chinese opera mask, we can see his unique style.
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Shihkai Tai's website: www.kaisneakers.com
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Recently, Shihkai has been designing a new collection, which relates to the traditional culture of Taiwan. He believes that a successful design should stay popular and be remembered by people. Therefore, he thinks the only way to make his design popular is that it must be different from previous efforts.
Therefore, he prefers to add more fashion elements which show cultural beliefs to enhance the value of his design. Although the sales of his previous collection were good, he still hopes his design can be innovative.
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As a fashion designer, Tai cannot just work by himself. Most of the time he has to cooperate with other designers, photographers, and models. “I have to learn from other people who are in different career areas. Everyone has skills and talents which I lack. It is really valuable for me to work with them because I can definitely absorb experience and professional knowledge from them,” he says. With his modest and positive attitude, Tai welcomes teamwork and continues to learn from others in his group.
Sometimes Tai feels stressed when he cannot find inspiration in a short time. When he meets a problem and feels anxious, he goes to the gym and plays basketball to relax. When he stops thinking about his deadline and focuses his body and mind on other things, he can find his enthusiasm for design again and refresh himself. This is also the reason why he likes to watch NBA matches. “When I watch the basketball players, I feel their power and energy. That will help me to get inspiration in sneaker design,” Tai says.
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When Tai was discussing about fashion trends, he said: “No matter the trends are today or in the future, they all come from life. We cannot imagine trends without foundation. Fashion trends are just like cultural creativity; it is based on life and it is created by subconscious ideas.”
Moreover, he holds the view that fashion trends just represent a period and won’t last forever. Therefore, he does not support people following trends blindly. “It is better for you to find the style which really fits you rather than always follow the trends,” Tai says.
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Eva Meneghini Fashion Design Never Ends in Her Life
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Essay
Silver He
Photography S. Louis
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What is the passion of a fashion designer? For Eva Meneghini, her goal as a fashion designer is to be a fashion magician, to help women find their own style, beauty, and to encourage them embrace their natural features with her designs. With this passion in mind, she attended Miami International University of Art & Design to get a BFA in fashion design in 2013.
And now, she continues to study for her master’s degree at the Academy of Art University. While at school, she created her own brand, “Eva Meneghini.” She believes that every fashion designer who wants to be successful should start his or her career early.
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When Meneghini, a 25 year old girl from Venezuela was a little, she often played with Barbie dolls. She dressed them up and tried to make clothes for them: ponchos, skirts, and long dresses. "It was great to see others wearing my work, even though they were just Barbie dolls," she said proudly. She was also influenced by her family. "My aunt is an artist. When I saw she was painting and drawing, I suddenly wanted to learn fashion painting," she said.
She thinks painting is relevant to fashion design because she can come up with ideas about patterns and the use of colors. “My family owns a leather company, so sometimes I choose leather as one of main elements in my design,� she explained. Additionally, she likes to read fashion magazines. She thinks that feature articles can also bring her new inspiration for her designs.
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As a fashion designer, Meneghini is not only mastering her specialized knowledge, but also has other skills for becoming successful. “If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else is going to,” she said. She thinks that confidence is always one of the most important assets for a fashion designer. “Another thing is listening to your clients, listening to what they want. Because sometimes you see collections on the runway, that tends to be crazy, and they are not suited for our daily life, so a good designer should communicate with clients and know how to balance the collections and their daily look,” she said.
Besides fashion design, Meneghini is also interested in photography. She likes to use flowers that she captures on film to make floral patterns in her design work. “Photography can help me discover and record the beautiful and meaningful things around me, I can use the natural elements to create my new design,” she explained. "I'm still chasing my dream. I hope my work will be shown at New York Fashion Week within five years," Meneghini said.
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What are the Strategies for Emerging Fashion Designers to be Successful?
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ashion is amazing, not just because it generously gives people beauty, but also because it has a magic power to make progress constantly. Fashion never stands still. It is always updating itself so that it can adapt to new and different times. For this reason, fashion designers have to come up with more and more ideas to refresh their works so that they can create new trends and besuccessful. Therefore, emerging fashion designers will face a big competition from other fashion designers and they have to prepare for the challenges. In order to be an outstanding designer, the first thing you have to think is: how can I standout from others. Only when you have your unique design, can you be noticed by other people. Look around yourself, your city, or even the world; you can discover new fashion elements everywhere. Give yourself more chances to get close to nature, and you will be surprised when the beauty of nature attracts you, and you are able to get inspiration from it so that you can create some innovative fashion works. As a successful beginning fashion designer, you also have to listen to the voice of your customers. It is really important to know about what your customers want because they are the subjects you are working for. You have to do research to get information about their needs so that you have a direction to make sure your designs can satisfy your customers. If your designs can be remembered and appreciated by your customers, it will be easier to find success. Therefore, listening to customers is key for emerging fashion designers to become successful. Additionally, a accomplished emerging fashion designer should have good drawing skills, and know how to match colors, patterns and fabrics together. Drawing is an essential requirement for emerging fashion designers. They have to show their design ideas through sketches. Otherwise, they cannot present their works even if they have a good concept. Selecting colors, patterns and fabrics is also an important point for emerging fashion designers to focus on. We can know their taste and style from their designs. Therefore, the emerging fashion designers should improve their artistic aptitude and design consciousness so that they can be recognized. Confidence is another strategy for emerging fashion designers to find success. If you do not believe yourself, no one else will. Stay positive, work hard, and be brave to face challenge. Compared to famous fashion designers, emerging designers have to complete with both others and themselves. It is difficult for emerging fashion designer to be successful, however, these strategies can give emerging fashion designers some tips and confidence to help them get success easier in their design life.
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Jasmine Jiang A Food Photographer’s Fashion Philosophy J​ asmine Jiang, 26, just graduated from Academy of Art University but is now heading back to her homeland, China for pursuing food photography. Both her photography works and fashion style made a big impression on me.
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The first time I saw her was at a downtown Italian restaurant where she was shooting photos of food. Her outfit grabbed my attention. A knitted top made her look elegant, graceful, and feminine. A high waist slit midiskirt elongated her legs. It seemed like she had her own personal taste. In order to know more about her, I invited her for a stroll and have an interview.
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Silver He: How do you dress in your daily life? Jasmine Jiang: When I am working, I often dress comfortable and casual which is convenient for me to work. But it doesn’t mean that I dress carelessly. I pay attention to the proportion, so I like to wear short tops and high waist pants or skirts. SH: What item of clothing do you own the most? JJ: The basic tee! I own about 30. The basic tee is a good deal because it’s not expensive and it can match with everything. SH: What do you think is the difference between fashion photography and food photography? JJ: Before I became a food photographer, I was a fashion photographer. Fashion photography is more complex because I have to consider too many things, such as styling, modeling, and the specific spaces for the shooting of different topics. But for food photography, it’s easier to control since we just need the food, a table, and the wonderful light.
SH: What style do you like best?
SH: What’s your plan for the future?
JJ: I like elegant and cozy style. I don’t like lacey clothes; it’s too sweet and I’m not that kind of person.
JJ: Right now I’m working for others to gain experience and knowledge. I just graduated from school, so I still need to learn from others. I hope I can build my own photography studio soon, within five years hopefully. And maybe I will work with fashion photographers to shoot some topics about “Food meets Fashion” —that will be interesting!
SH: How do you get inspiration for your work? JJ: I love travelling! I often go to other cities to discover new things. I know fashion is diverse and each city has its own unique fashion elements. And food is no exception. Each time I go to different cities, I ask the natives about the traditional food. And I record the special food in each city through my camera to show people how food is amazing.
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Lyric Wilson Fashion Design Should be Creative
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The word Lyric reminds me of a soft beautiful melody of a song. However, the interesting thing is, Lyric is also the name of a cool 24 years old girl with green hair and rock and rock style. “I’m not elegant — I’m cool!” Lyric Wilson says with a laugh. Wilson is the most attractive girl on the Powell street. Leather coat, skinny pants, and the exaggerated boot — all come together to make her look like a rock star.
She is crazy about leather and rock style and this is also the reason she likes the brand Mother of London.
“ I like black, so I often dress up in all black. And I also like to wear metal accessories, such as earrings, necklaces, and rings. Also, the geometric patterns in my scarf light up my outfit,” Wilson says. When I first saw Wilson, I was curious about her job. After talking with her, I found out that she is a leather designer and a stylist.
Wilson is also very opinionated about fashion design. “I don’t think fast fashion is good because it just copies others’ works.” She believes great designers should have their own creative ideas. “If your works can be remembered among other designers’ works, you will be successful,” Wilson says.
“ The design of Mother of London is so cool”, she says, “It represents my passion in rock n roll and gives me a lot of inspirations to my works.” In her next leather collection, Wilson will add more punk rock elements in her design, such as rivets and geometric patterns, and try to make it become a new fashion trend.
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Brandon Carter An American "British Gentleman" On a sunny Thursday afternoon, while I was strolling through Union Square, a man who dressed like a “London gentleman” was reading a newspaper while enjoying his lunch. He grabbed my attention because of his vintage classic British style, which reminded me of “Kensington”.
Kensington is a district in west London. It has a rich history, and is full of vintage fashion elements since it represents a traditional British men style. It was surprising to see an American man who presented the “Kensington” style so well. And so I introduced myself and learned more about Brandon Carter.
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Silver He: Can you describe your outfit today? Brandon Carter: I like urban men’s wear and traditional British style. So today I am wearing a linen suit, polka dot tie, and blue shirt. I also like Oxford shoes, and look at my color block socks! I think they match perfectly! SH: What is your daily style? BC: I don’t want to look like a slovenly person, so I never wear any loose clothes, it’s not my aesthetic. I focus on fit, that’s my biggest thing. So I always make sure that all my stuff fits well. And this is also my daily style. SH: What is your experience related to fashion? BC: I’m a men’s wear design student right now. And before that, I spent 10 years working in retail fashion. I have talked with my clients and listened to them a lot so that I know what people really care about when they choose clothes. I think this was a good experience for my design career.
SH: What is your passion in fashion? BC: Hmm…My passion in fashion is creating an emotion. Every designer makes collections with their own feeling and love. For me, I want to be an outstanding fashion designer with my unique ideas and emotions. SH: What is your favorite fashion city? BC: I love London and Milan. I like the brands from these two cities because of good quality and amazing design.
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Vu Tham
Less is More
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I hadn’t seen a person present minimalist style well in San Francisco until I met Vu Tham. The first time I noticed him, he wore a black knitted sweater, black suit pants, and a double-breasted tan coat. There weren’t any complex patterns or colors on his clothes. However, he conveyed his style through his outfit.
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Vu Tham is Vietnamese. He majors in Fashion Merchandising at Academy of Art University. So what does he think about fashion? Let’s get close to him and listen to his personal views.
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SH: Who is your fashion design hero? VT: Jil Sander is my favorite fashion designer. No matter the silhouette, texture, or the color, they all represent minimalist art. I like the unique design and minimalist style. Less is more, and that is what I believe. SH: Have you noticed any new fashion trends? VT: Yes. I found that the long items such as the long loose tunics came back to the fashion stage and it led to a trend. You can just wear it with a belt to show your waist, and you will look fashionable. SH: What job do you want to do after you graduate? VT: I want to work in the Public Relations department in a fashion company. I think my appearance is suited for working in PR (laughing). Additionally, I like to work with people and I am good at communicating. I can often come up with creative ideas when I do this job.
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Silver He: What’s your inspiration for today’s outfit? Vu Tham: Hmm…I like minimalism and casual. So I chose the clothes that didn’t have a lot of patterns on them. I want to keep it clean. And that’s also my daily look. SH: Do you try different styles for different events, such as a party? VT: Yes. Sometimes I will dress myself like a crazy person. I’m also interested in punk from the late 90s, so for my aesthetic, rock and roll style is awesome and it is another type I would like to wear.
Bitter End Photography by Fernando Rodriguez Styling by Tiffany Stewart ​Model Zi Gattina
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In Absentia Photography
Fernando Rdz.
Styling
Eva Meneghini
Make up & Hair Jeddie Kawahatsu
Model Silver He
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