By Brooke Finnerty
Copy by Isabella Conti
Phung (Phungie) Huynh is one of the eighteen textile and apparel designers showing their collection at the annual Capstone Collection Fashion Show on April 27. In the following interview with University Fashion Fashion Group, she reveals details of her upcoming collection “Playing in the Threads.”
BF: Tell me about yourself as an individual and a designer.
PH: I like to say that my way of designing is very playful. That’s just how I come across as a person, too. I like to joke around and have fun in my everyday life. So, when I’m designing, I’m keeping that in mind as well as mixing in nostalgia with that because I tend to draw from my childhood. For the most part I design from the heart and what I want to wear and what I want other people to wear, if they were to wear my things.
BF: Tell me about your creative process.
PH: I spent lots of hours in the studio, but that’s okay. I’m with my homies. And then, with my creative process, I always like to start with a mood board. My mood board has tons of purple, which is super fun and nostalgic. I then move on to like sketches. In the beginning, we had to do about 30 sketches and then narrow it down. Then I just took my favorite four and started working on our mockups of our drawings. After that, I just dove right into sourcing. It’s been a great fun process.
BF: Tell me more about what inspired your collection.
PH: The inspiration for this collection stems from, once again, my childhood. As a little girl, my favorite color was purple, and when people would ask me, “Hey, what’s your favorite color?” I would always say it’s purple, but as I got older, I wore more reds and other mature colors. I don’t use purple as often in my life, but I still consider it my favorite color. This collection is an homage to that – my transition from purple to red, symbolizing me now, just as I am as an adult.
BF: Tell me more about your different looks.
PH: My lineup goes from purple and pink to red. I ordered my looks specifically to match the transition from my childhood to the person I am now. To begin with my collection, the first one is purple, inspired by my teddy lamb, named Lammie. The second is pink, which comes from my other teddy bear, Pinky. I wasn’t very creative with my names. The third piece is inspired by my time in Vietnam; during my sister’s birthday, when I was trying to lick cake off a picture.
The last one is a take on a modern áo dài. An áo dài is a traditional Vietnamese dress, and I really want to incorporate it into my look. The modernness of that is because there tends to be more conservatism. Nowadays, we’ve entered an era of modernity, especially in Vietnam.
BF: How do you feel about your collection being revealed on the runway?
PH: I’m mostly excited. If I have time, hopefully I can make my outfit, but I think it’s going to be really good. I have a lot of close friends coming to the show, which is awesome. I have three close friends modeling my collection as well. But overall, I’m just excited to see everyone’s work come to life.
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