We’d love to share an interview with New York fashion designer Ge Jiayue – A discussion between fashion design and the topic of neuroscience degenerative diseases.
Hi, Jiayue, could you please tell us more about the concept behind Thesis Collection?
Yes, Thesis Collection is based on my thoughts about neurodegenerative diseases. During my junior year, I started to think about the relationships between memories, illusions and dreams, which brought me into the neuroscience world. Since then, every collection I did was inspired by neuroscience. And the concept of Thesis Collection represents the feeling of the patients who were diagnosed incurable neurodegenerative diseases through their last period of their life. With creating these garments. I would like to express the feeling like disconnection from the societies, disappearing of their normal life and contrast between previous life and life after diagnosing. At the same time, the ideas behind this concept represent that everyone has struggles in their life and people can not help with avoiding the struggles. We had no choice but to try to embrace and live through them. Decisions of life are not only us to make but only us who can alter.
But how did you integrate the elements of neurodegenerative diseases in your collection. We thought ‘disease’ is hard to express in fashion?
At first, it was really a struggle for me to bring the concept in Thesis collection. I started with reading articles about the disease. I did some experiments about mimicking how those patients move and live and think about the relationships between those movements and garments. Meanwhile, I researched about artists who were suffered from neurodegenerative diseases. From their work, I was inspired and I did some blind drawings of the garments and got shapes from that. I also did a few prints for my collection based on the degenerative neuron to have a more specific image of the concept.
Do any designers affect your creation? Could you tell us your work experience?
Definitely. I serve as a designer assistant for Yara Flinn, and learned how to build up an independent fashion brand and strengthen her attitude in design. The experience established an important foundation for my knowledge of branding. Later, I entered the studio of German designer Melitta Baumeister in New York City and learned how to use advanced clothing materials to express unique artistic concepts in my work. At the same time, I have been inspired to apply my understanding of neuroscience in the design.
Please use two sentences to describe your design?
My designs are gloomy and aggressive. They appear layering and not focusing on showing the body shape.
What kinds of people will be your target customers?
My target customers can be aged from 18 to even 60. I don’t want to limit my customers to a certain group of people. I believe in people looking for their most comfortable styles on their own. I want my customers to create stories with my garments.
What’s your future plan within the next few years?
This year will be a fresh start. I would like to bring my ideas in front of people and in the next 3 years, I will work to help bring neuroscience topics into fashion. Hopefully, human beings will have a better understanding of ourselves by more people paying attention to our brain and studying about it.
What’s your suggestion for students who are pursuing fashion degrees?
Becoming an outstanding independent designer is the ultimate goal, but learning diverse and solid compulsory subjects in school is necessary. It is hard for every designer to find his/her own style at the beginning. The best way to find your way is to follow pioneers in the industry.
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