By Emma Weidmann | Staff Writer
Fashion and interior design students gathered in the Barfield Drawing Room of the Bill Daniels Student Union Building on Friday afternoon to showcase their clothing collections and interior design concepts.
Round Rock senior Aldrian Widjaja presented his clothing collection entitled “American Dynasty,” which was inspired by his Indonesian and Chinese heritage, as well as his experience growing up in America as an immigrant. Widjaja, who came to the United States when he was in the second grade, wanted to show off that side of himself by using fashion.
“I wanted to merge those two influences, the Indonesian and the Chinese in me and also the American side. Coming here when I was very little, I viewed myself through that perspective and I wanted to have that reflected in my designs,” Widjaja said. “I think fashion can be used as a bridge between two cultures and it’s something that you don’t have to have a common language to speak. It’s something that everyone can understand.”
His entire collection took him 100 hours per semester of studio and class time, Widjaja said. It included pattern-making (the measuring and cutting of the pieces that make up each garment), mock-ups (almost like a rough draft of the garment, using the new pattern to cut pieces out of a different fabric to test it out), fittings and the sewing itself. It takes that long to create a collection like this because it was Widjaja’s first time using Batik, the national fabric of Indonesia. It’s a delicate fabric, so he had to make sure everything was just right.
“It was really fun working with it and it made me feel a lot closer to my Indonesian heritage because it’s something you would see on the runways in Jakarta, so it felt really good to bring it here,” Widjaja said.
Widjaja said his designs felt freeing, as he was able to express how fashion was one of the first things that he connected to his with friends when he came to America.
Tyler senior Evelyn Felipe is an interior design student whose concept for a software development company stood out amongst many other presentations. Inspired by the Kentucky Derby, Felipe’s project blended country-western influence with the modern feel of the company, Keeneland Development Labs. The company is based in Lexington, Ky., so it’s only fitting to have one of the state’s most popular attractions be the inspiration for the interior design concept.
Felipe incorporated conference tables shaped like horseshoes and race tracks, but incorporated the famous horse race in other ways, as well. She used the iconic fashion of the derby to influence her color scheme of bright pastels.
“I found some artwork of the fashion and that’s where I pulled a lot of the color inspiration from,” Felipe said.
A painting on her presentation board showed just that – a sea of frilly, wide-brimmed hats in salmon, tangerine, cerulean and buttercup yellow.
Felipe pointed out other subtle nods to the famous horse race in her presentation, like a horse-print wallpaper as an accent wall, as well as unique lighting fixtures and wooden flooring.
“As it was a software development company, I didn’t want it to be super western,” Felipe said. “I wanted to do something that was a bit more modern.”
