Sophia Born

Excerpts from an Interview with the Designer

Recorded on: March 29 2023

Tell me about your collection!

My collection is inspired by the movie Black Swan and I'm doing five transitional pieces. So it's going to start off with a white ballet costume going into a red one, going into a black one. I really wanted to focus on fabric manipulation for this collection and expanding my knowledge with corsets and couture. For each corset, I started the beginning with symmetry, and then it's going to end with asymmetry. But yeah, I'm excited. I think all of them turned out to be very cohesive with one another and I can't wait to see how it goes. 

What about Black Swan inspired you? 

I think ballet is one of the most beautiful sports, and I love a sport where you also have a costume: I did gymnastics and getting a new leotard for a competition was always so exciting. Also, being able to be so strong but also look so beautiful and poised while doing so, really inspired me. It's always been one of my favorite movies because it's very thrilling and the costume designer was so talented. 

The movie is a psychological thriller, so I wanted to tap into struggling with mental health and incorporate that into my pieces. The main character in the movie struggles with a few mental disorders, but I want my collection to highlight that just because a bad situation happens to you doesn’t mean you have a bad life, and that everything happens for a reason for your life to turn out beautiful if you really live.

What’s the reason behind transitioning from symmetry to asymmetry throughout your collection?  

I think pushing myself to start with symmetry to go to asymmetry is just getting myself out of my comfort zone. It's also pushing myself to see the bigger picture in the end. I wanted to challenge myself to just do more. I did a lot of research for this project, for my last look. It's just going to be a front bodice and there's going to be no back on it, but I'm going to glue prongs on my model to make it look like I'm weaving the ribbon in her back. That inspired me because I saw a few looks on Vogue Runway. I try to keep myself updated with the current inspiration, but I also don't want to base all of it off of what's happening on the runway. I want it to come from me. So that's why I really like watching movies, because I think costume designers don't get as much attention as they should.

What challenges have you been facing so far? 

I would say everything I've been making, I've really loved and it's turning out really well, but I keep wanting to add more before I'm done with all five looks, so I guess time management. I always want to add more and make it perfect. But sometimes I just need to step back and separate myself from the actual project and just take it how it is. I'm just trying to trust the process and hopefully everything turns out well. 

What is fashion to you?

I find Alexander McQueen to be very inspirational, and I try to live by his quote, “fashion should be a form of escapism, not a form of imprisonment.”. To me, I think it's one of the best outlets to make me feel better. Whenever I'm able to dress however I want and actually feel confident and comfortable in the clothes, it reflects and increases my personality and character.