Words by Kate Sautter, Stylist. Images courtesy of Grace Wang.

You may have seen her glimmering gowns and mini dresses at DONT WALK’s Launch event in November. These delicate pastel dresses stunned the audience as they made their way down the runway. It was the handiwork and genius coordination of colour and texture of these designs that caught the eye of DONT WALK’s committee at the beginning of the year. This marked the beginning of their collaboration with student designer Grace Wang.

For DONT WALK’s fashion show this spring, Grace Wang donated a collection of ten dresses. After the large buzz her looks generated at the DONT WALK launch, I decided it was time to chat with Grace about get answers to the many questions circling her as an upcoming designer. I sat down with Grace to discuss her involvement with DONT WALK’s show, explore her creative process, and to learn more about her as a designer and artist.

The Collaboration with Don’t Walk

Of the ten dresses she donated to this year’s fashion show, Grace explained that most of the looks follow the same fabric scheme. The dresses she has currently finalized are made from different pastel variations of the same florescent fabric. The remaining dresses - she told me - would differ in theme from the already completed dresses.

The collection, she explained, is a giant experiment with asymmetry, silhouettes, how fabric falls over the body, and constructing seemingly dynamic pieces to fit the human frame.

The dresses are handmade and one of a kind. Grace described that the stretchy nature of the fabric and design of each dress allows them to fit most sizes and body types. I also spoke to DONT WALK model Turner Wallenstrom, who said that “Grace does such an amazing job creating pieces that are both flattering and extremely imaginative.” When speaking to the rest of the models, Grace said she was glad to hear that each girl loved the way they looked and felt in her clothing.

The Very Beginning

Making clothing is still relatively a new passion for Grace. She said that art itself was something she had to find her own way in. In eighth grade she dropped out of art classes because they were too constructive, strict, and limited her creativity and access to mediums beyond paper and pencil. She got back into art her senior year of high school when she bought her first sewing machine. She said “I remembered when I was little and would sketch dresses on napkins and in sketchbooks. I wanted to give actually designing clothing a shot.” Grace started to sketch new pieces and bring them to life, and her newfound devotion to designing and fashion was initiated.

Her Creative Process

Grace’s process of creating and sewing her pieces is based on flexibility, emotion, and her constant discovery of new inspiration. Grace says, “most of my designing is done without calculations or a rigid procedure, I use a few measurements to fit a body and then use my imagination to piece the rest of the look together.” She describes her process as very “go with the flow.” She starts by sketching her looks over a frame. These sketches are inspired by emotion: “I think about the about the emotion I want to capture, relive that emotion, and put the pen to paper.” Her first step in sketching is to combine abstract shapes. She then sees what works on paper and then consider what forms she likes the best. Once it is meshed into one piece, she begins a series of sketches based on this piece to play around with its design. She will typically make two series of sketches until the piece is finalized.

Grace chooses the dress material as she is inspired at the fabric stores. When picking fabric, she keeps in mind the original idea behind her design and selects colours that reflect what she wants to express in the dress. She said that certain colours correspond with different emotions in her mind. She said that she associates love and anger with deep reds, while “the feeling of being alive,” she relayed “make me think of oranges and blues.”

Future Goals

Grace feels like this is only the beginning of her journey into fashion and her capabilities with creating clothing. She still wants to learn more about construction and the art of sewing. Grace states, “I realized I wanted to make art with sewing, not just clothing that you can wear.” Grace is inspired by dresses that take highly geometric and abstract forms. She is working towards acquiring the skills to assemble articles of clothing that require a complex knowledge of manufacturing. In the future, Grace wants to attend design school in a London, Italy, or Paris. Here, Grace’s goals would to be learn the skills to “make the craziest things I see in my head.”

Grace plans to get more exposure for her existing designs by doing more runway shows. This year her pieces are her shown at DONT WALK, BPM, Durham University Charity Fashion Show, and a handful of shows in New York City.

She sees herself one day starting her own official fashion brand. Her goal would be to keep every piece in this brand handmade and to avoid mass producing her collections like many other high fashion companies. Grace’s company will have a mission of selling unique and sustainable and what she would consider not everyday attire, but wearable art. She wants to one day design extravagant dresses that belong in museums and in the editorial media. Grace could see herself experimenting with other mediums of art in the future as well. She said that her love for art in 3D may even lead her to work with sculptures and other architectural art forms down the road.

Grace’s work in the fashion and art world has only begin. This young and motivated designer has so many opportunities ahead of her- and I advise readers to keep an eye out for Grace Wang and the things she will accomplish in the future.

Introducing Grace Wang: Student Designer of DONT WALK