Written by: Brooke Finnerty
TXA Apparel and Design student Liz Moctezuma-Manzanero prepares to bring her senior collection to life for the Capstone Fashion Show at the end of April. Throughout her persistent dedication in the sewing lab, she incorporates her innovative ideas and core values into the garments. In this interview, Moctezuma-Moanzanero discusses her inspiration, creative process, and primary details that shape her completed collection, soon to be displayed under the bright lights on the fashion runway.
BF: Tell me about yourself as a designer and as an individual.
LM: I like a pop of color in shades like coral and tangerine. I like to experiment with geometrics and for a lot of my designs I try to look at social ideas and see how I can make it different. I like to play with it being long or short, and push femininity and masculinity in between both of them.
I’m really interested in making sure that my designs are considerate for people and I think about the people working and making those fabrics in my collection. I incorporate a lot of biodegradable material like organic cottons and linens. I also make sure it’s aesthetically innovative, pleasing and contemporary.
BF: What is the inspiration for your collection?
LM: I’m a Christian, and so that was very much the beginning of my inspiration for this design. Growing up I didn’t see a lot of clothing that covered my body that was conservative but was also modern and stylish in a way. I wanted this collection to be long but also experimental with space and making it flowy. I want to see, can that be beautiful and will people want to wear it?
It can be cool but I don’t want it to be tight fitting. I also wanted it to be cool for men as well and test things like, why can’t we have a lighter shade here? Can they wear something flowy? Can the woman wear something that might be a little bit more restrictive? But it’s innovative and pushes the geometrics and the design.
I was also inspired by kelp and its movement so I wanted to incorporate it to make sure the designs flow. I’m keeping the performance in mind because I need people to move in the clothing, so I didn’t want it to be avant garde either. It’s definitely day to day wear but also something interesting that people would want to wear for a long time, so it’s not too trendy.
BF: Tell me about your creative process.
LM: It starts with thinking about the purpose. I don’t want it to be surface level clothing because we have so much of it already. I think, what am I bringing? What am I adding? What am I changing? Am I just designing into systems that already exist or am I thinking there’s somewhere else? So I started with who I’m designing for which is the Christian woman that is like out of the box with her relationship with God.
Then I start sketching and thinking, what would they wear? What would they want to see? What colors do they like? Then I start thinking about different skin tones and if this looks more flattering on one versus the other. I want to make sure the person feels good and looks good in my design by highlighting a different part of their body if they might feel insecure. I use my sketches to make changes and experiment with how the design could look different through reconstructing it.
From there, I start patterning it out and sometimes the patterning doesn’t work out as you sketch it so I have to design this a little bit differently. Then you go back, you drape it on the form and if you like it, you pass it on to the pattern. Then you sew it and if you don’t like it you have to redo it. So you think about all those things from the beginning to the end, and it’s a lot of work in between. You have to like the process, because if you only like the end result, then you’re hating the rest.
So, it’s been a while and I think I’ve come to like everything. I think part of it requires discipline because you aren’t always going to want to work but I think God has helped me to come into the lab when I don’t want to, or understand that it is useful and it does end up as a result.
BF: How do you feel about your completed products being showcased in the upcoming show?
LM: I’m really looking forward to showing my collection because I haven’t done that before. I’ve seen Austin Fashion Week, but their shows are on a road, so having it on an elevated platform and seeing them walk in it is definitely going to be super cool. Having other people look at your work, what you’ve spent, like, four months working on, will be super interesting for me.I’m really excited to see all the lights, the models, the makeup, and just seeing it come to life and it being wearable.
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