Anna Maria loves drawing and fashion, and at EXPLO was able to combine her two interests in Fashion Design. Her collection — inspired by David Bowie and the cosmos — was on display at the EXPLO Art Show.
My fashion design work is inspired by the unearthly sense of style of David Bowie. I learned from him that you can be 100 different people but still be yourself. I want to break the boundaries of the world of fashion rules. This is why I incorporated a lot of menswear pieces into my work. In my collection, I included a lot of long pants, shirts and ties. I'm also inspired by the cosmos of the stars. I've always assumed that we are all made of stars. There's this theory that says that every part of our body was once a star. Van Gogh once said that maybe death will take us to another star. Seeing myself as a part of the cosmos definitely has helped me develop the work and my collection. For the final project, we were making dresses. I chose a dark navy and silver fabric for my dress to replicate the dark sky and the shining stars.
I've never taken a fashion design class before, but I like drawing. So I drew many sketches before. The class is very challenging for me because other than doing the sketches, we actually have to put it down on the mannequin. We have to learn how to sew on a machine and do pretty much everything. It's very challenging, but at the end I'm proud to say that I've learned something.
Sige Zheng