Written by: Brooke Finnerty
Apparel and design senior, Lily Cartagena is thrilled to see her garments appear on the runway at the Capstone Fashion Show on April 28th. Growing up in Sherman, Texas, she found her love for fashion design. Now as her time as a UT student comes to a close, Lily is proud to present her completed collection. In this interview, Lily explained the inspiration for her pieces, the work she has done leading up to the show, and the memories made along the way.
BF: Tell me about yourself as a designer and as an individual.
LC: I started designing when I was in high school and I took the home ec class. My teacher was really inspirational and someone you would want to look up to at that age. She was very helpful and introduced me to the subject. I just kind of fell in love with it and continued on.
BF: What is the inspiration for your collection?
LC: My collection is based on the Latin and Chicano culture of denim. Growing up I enjoyed the baggier look but I still wanted to feel super pretty. So I’m taking more masculine street style like cargos, boxiness, and oversized, and I’m mixing it into a more sexy, feminine, and powerful silhouette. It’s taking like these two opposite ideas kind of mixing it as one. Aside from culture and personal experience I looked into denim details and colors from different runway shows to get inspiration.
BF: Tell me about your creative process.
LC: Honestly, it was during Christmas break and It’s really just hard to put yourself down and do work over break. I just started sketching and as a designer over my course of work of flat pattern, apparel one, apparel two, and draping. I experimented with different techniques and styles. I took those techniques that I really enjoyed or kind of honed into and started designing and creating and sketching.
BF: Tell me more about your time working in the lab.
LC: So I’m always in the lab Tuesdays and Thursdays and then I come Wednesday night. I also try to on Monday nights and Friday nights. Usually during the week you’ll see other designers sporadically come in and out but during the weekends is when we’re here and we’re just talking, we’ll have TV on, music playing, and we’re laughing. I think going through that together, stressing together and also helping each other really makes us bond and it’s something I look forward to during the weekend. It’s not like I have to work on my collection. It’s more like I get to work on my collection with my friends.
BF: How do you feel about your completed products being showcased in the upcoming show?
LC: I’m looking forward to seeing all the hard work me and my peers put into this at the show. You spend a lot of time with them and really bond with them throughout the entire process. I think watching everyone’s collection run the show is going to be so pretty and just so rewarding.
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