Written by: Brooke Finnerty
Senior textiles and apparel Designer, Jade Jane is now at the final stages before unveiling her incredible Capstone Collection. Throughout her persistent work in the lab, the idea of her pieces being walked on at UFG’s upcoming fashion show is keeping her motivated. In this interview she talks about her creative process, what inspired her love for design, and the meaningful details of her garments.
BF: Tell me about yourself as a designer and as an individual.
JJ: I consider myself a minimalistic detail oriented designer and I think that also reflects on my wardrobe too. I don’t like anything with a too crazy pattern or crazy colors either. I like neutral and subtle colors too, like pastel tones.
BF: What is the inspiration for your collection?
JJ: My inspiration derives from childhood nostalgia and fantasy that I grew up watching and reading. My mom was also studying fashion design but she didn’t really pursue it in Korea because it was just mostly a hobby. So I grew up watching her and I think she’s a pretty big influence in how I wanted to be a designer.
BF: Tell me about your creative process and the details of your collection.
JJ: I think my collection showcases what I wanted to create since like Sophomore year when I came into TXA. So, taking from inspiration, I wanted to include ruffles, some simple designs, flat patterning and fitted clothing.
I like to take things from sketching, base sketching, and then going into a rough toile (mock up) too. From there, I like to just dive in because I tend to overthink, get stuck, and I get fed up. I’m still working on it and taking it little by little. As I’m going through these individual looks I’m learning to just accept how it is and then try to work it through later on instead of being stuck on it. I see my peers jumping around too but I’m more of a structural person. I like to take things from one, two, three, four when I don’t really need to. I think that’s just one of my quirks, I guess.
I like to read romance fantasy webtoons and a lot of them include gowns but I’m not a huge gown person. I kind of twist it into a modern look and one of the looks include a ruffled skirt that comes from my apparel one project. I made this Hello Kitty inspired ruffle skirt and it has a huge bow on the side. I’m planning to implement that a little bit but twist it into being more functional because the original one was more of a wrap skirt. I think the ruffles add more of a bounce to how gowns are or how clothes are in general.
One of my looks is inspired by the Disney movie, Little Mermaid. The scene when she wore a glittery dress while becoming a human. There’s also some more glitter pieces and more subtle details. I have this one fabric made out of velour with beaded rhinestones a like some juicy couture so it was really cute and I’m excited to work with that.
I also recently developed a hobby of crocheting over the break so I wanted to implement that and crochet a shrug for one of the looks. The crochet look is more of a balance between pink and cream off white colors.
From there, I also like mixing blue and white or off white. I’m not using too many bright colors, instead pastel tones, and kind of downing it with blue, brown, and green. Again, I like neutral colors with some cute colors, like pink and blue.
BF: How do you feel about your completed products being showcased in the upcoming show?
JJ: I’m excited to see the outcome of how it’s all going to turn out and see how it’s going to be walked on. I think that’s what’s keeping me motivated, despite all the timing and workload.
I’ve never had a piece showcased before. So, first time for everything. I think this is a valuable experience for me as a designer. One thing that’s also keeping me motivated is that post grad I won’t be able to do these things anymore. I mean, it’s a hard lesson learned that I won’t be able to project what my creativity wants anymore so, I’m trying to make the best out of what I can during the time that I have right now.
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