Hi-Tech History: "Artist of the Month for January 2015: Emily Charlton"

Hi-Tech Fashion Group wants to highlight and archive the history of our past achievements. This blog post is an archive of Hi-Tech Fashion Group Artist of the Month, Emily Charlton.

Written: Monday, January 26, 2015

"Hello Fashionistas!!

We are starting our Spring Semester "Artist of the Month" with Emily Charlton. She has won the FGI competition in 2014, 1st place "Artwear" and 3rd place "Little Red Dress". I have interviewed her and got her inspiration stories behind the amazing designs she makes! Hope you enjoy reading her story! Thanks for stopping by!!! 

-How did you decide to become a fashion designer?

My mom taught me to sew as part of schooling when I was like 7 and I’ve been doing the design competitions and runway shows ever since. Since I was good at it, I decided to make a career out of it. I have another bachelor’s degree General Studies in Visual Arts.

-Which major do you like more?

I like Fashion Design more.

-What does fashion mean to you?

Fashion is a manifestation how person feels on inside basically. At least this is how I interpret it. You can tell what person feels by looking at what they are wearing. I don’t particularly think trends are a good idea or anything like that.

-Where do you get your inspirations when you design?

I get my inspiration from a lot of different stuff. Right now I am into Japanese culture. I have been researching the historical transformation of the kimono: where it started, how it got to where it is now, and the influence of Western culture on Japan after the isolationist period. And believe it or not, the Japanese actually are very particular about their traditional clothing. You’d think they just follow trends but they actually are very particular about the preservation of historical clothing. They’ve kept a lot of the techniques that they use like embroidery and dying and all that kind of stuff alive up until now. There is Kanzashi, which is fabric folding to make flowers which is really cool looking. 

-Does your other major help you on Fashion design?

In my other major my two big concentrations are jewelry and painting. In jewelry, I make things to go with my outfits or learn the things that would potentially go together. In painting I learn a lot about color and line, how it draws the eye and aesthetic balance so if I had ever wanted to go into textile prints or anything like that, even just putting stuff together, it would help. I will be hand dying most of the fabric for my senior fashion show, and a lot of the color theory is coming from my art background. Also I can use a lot of my sewing techniques in making my art projects.

-How would you describe your style?

I like to design art wear. For my personal style, I do not really have one. I wear everything. If I feel good in it I will wear it, even sometimes if I don’t. I am actually not all that interested in the fashion aspect of the apparel design industry; I am more looking to get into pattern drafting. 

-What are your plans for future?

I will be graduating in August so hopefully I am going to get an internship over the summer. I am not sure where I will get my internship. I am hoping to get a paid internship. After that I will be okay with working anywhere that will hire me. I just like to make stuff. I want to do pattern making. My hope would be to be hired somewhere semi-big as a pattern drafter, so I am practicing for that. 

-You got an award on FGI in 2014. What inspired you to design those pieces?

For the art wear dress I did an under-the-sea, creature, ocean wildlife theme. I was going through my Pinterest feed and I saw an image of an abandoned ship that looked really cool and I decided to make a dress that looked like ship wreck. I did lots of research on ocean creatures. I was in surface design so I was able to take the different techniques I learned in that class and move it over into this dress. And then for my red dress, I was stuck in the library late at night at about 2 am, hopped on caffeine, trying random designs. It ended up being the design I made. I was restricted with fabric because I only used what was available in the lab. I didn’t buy anything except for beads. It was a final project, so Ms. Haney gave me some whiner, a zipper, some boning, but the rest was just fabric that I found under the tables. It’s the crappiest fabric on the face of the planet. I broke so many needles and stabbed myself so many times. 

-What would you like to design in the future?

My preference is to make art, just on my own. I hope to be designing in the future, but I don’t care whom I’m drafting for, just as long as it’s work. I’m tired of being a starving college student."