Sam Voignier

Excerpts from an Interview with the Designer

Recorded on: March 8 2023

Tell me about your collection!

I recently took this metal-smithing class and it made me realize that everything we've made imitates something that's already existing. We get ideas from other people and other things, but it all originated from somewhere. My teacher was telling us to go outside, she wanted to be inspired first.

I did like a jacket last year that used this tapestry that had the last supper on it. So I was thinking, should I stick with that this year? And also I think crosses and stuff are selling pretty hard right now, so I think I’m just going to fall into Catholic iconography, and so that's what my whole collection's about. And also, embellishment. I'm doing these big wings made out of pearls sewn on. Another jacket I'm making. It’s going to have a lot of buttons on it. I thrifted over like 22,000 buttons one time. And I was thinking, what can I do with this? So I'm thinking about doing a mosaic of Maria Guadalupe on the back of somebody's piece. 

I want to be more of a creative director in the future, so I'm treating this as if it's a multi-level project. My last roommate was a Jacobs major, so he's making the runway music. I'm excited to see what we come up with. And then I have someone who was in the media school for videography, so she’s going to do the video shoot with a whole behind the scenes of everything that goes into it. 

One of my friends that’s modeling for me, runs The Reef in Bloomington, and he officially licensed it not too long ago. So I want to have his music, and then another one of my models is like a rapper ,so I'm having his music in the credits of the video. I want it to be like a bunch of collaborations. I'm just trying to do the most, that way this project becomes like my final statement piece.

What do you plan to do with the pieces you create after the show?

Everyone's similar to my size, so I can wear the pieces I’m making. I don't like the idea of making a bunch of stuff that I'll never be able to wear. A lot of people want to sell it too, but I'm just thinking, I kind of want to wear this, it looks fancy. If you ever go to a fancy fashion thing, you put that on, everyone's like, whoa what’s that? You can say “I made it.”

What challenges have you faced?

Procrastination is so hard. When I think of procrastination, I don't really have it, I have it for institutionalized work. Because I've done so much stuff outside of this that's my own stuff and when I feel passionate about it, it gets done. Not that I don't feel passionate about this, it's just  due dates. It's almost like having a job. I know we're about to go into the workforce, so I shouldn’t be acting like this, but it’s hard. 

Getting inspired is also a big thing. It's hard to get inspired whenever it’s something institutionalized because there's some people out there who don't even do mood boards or anything. They just like to create. And I feel like for me that’s something I like to do. I just like to go and do it. So I feel like that's another big one: when I have to, create this mood.