10 Questions with Hanwei Su

Al-Tiba9 Art Magazine ISSUE12 | CoVER Artist

VV Su is a New York-based fashion designer who attended Parsons and is currently preparing to debut her FW23 collection for her own label during New York Fashion Week in February 2023. She is motivated to continue by the desire to give back through clothing design and to create a more wholesome fashion industry. It should be obvious that the main topics of her discussions have consistently been rights, equality, sustainability, and humanitarian issues. She focuses on investigating real-world solutions to environmental and societal problems rather than only debating them conceptually, including but not limited to material experiments and practices, design methods, and new systems. Her creations have been highlighted in publications, and she earned the Tishman Fund for Excellence in Climate, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability in addition to reaching the finals of the IYDC Sustainable Fashion Competition.

vv-su-hanwei.com | @vvsuuuuuu

Wild Growth | Project description

The “Wild Growth” collection is a zero-waste collection that is constructed out of leftover pieces of fabric. The commonality of life, encompassing humans and nature, as well as the wildness present in their growth, is intended to be conveyed. It is also the designer’s exploration into the emergence of “inorganic creatures” and the spontaneous expansion and inheritance of life. Although there are many various types of life, it brought up the point that they all share a common essence. Designer Su made the decision to approach this collection in a way that is consistent with the concept. Julian Roberts, a British zero-waste expert, taught her this special method. The designer pays attention to the shape and receptivity of the materials in the absence of design. Making and designing go hand in hand. The design is created at the exact moment that the making process is completed. The will of the designer does not thus prevail over the will of the material. Additionally, the collecting contributes to the “development” of life on earth.

INTERVIEW

Let's start talking a little bit about yourself. You studied fashion design in New York and are about to launch your first collection. But how did you first get interested in fashion and design? 

I've always been creative, ever since I was a child. When I was young, I spent every day after school painting and making crafts. Therefore, I believe that the ability to express myself artistically comes naturally to me. It provides me with satisfaction and makes me feel like myself. Before I applied to college, I questioned my career plan. I've always felt that being creative will be my calling, and I'm delighted to experiment with different materials as opposed to sticking to painting and craftwork. In contrast to the term fashion designer, I prefer the term garment artist. Fabric is my preferred medium for expressing my beliefs and creating my art and world. This is where everything begins.

Tell us more about your studies and work experiences. What are the experiences that shaped the designer you are now? And how did you evolve your way of working?

Due to the pandemic, my experience varies from that of the prior generation. Two years ago, as a result of the pandemic, I turned my focus to personal initiatives and giving back to society in whichever manner I could. Work experiences provide me with a broader understanding of the industry and society. I am sometimes inspired by these experiences. I was working as an editor for Z community, a designer for local businesses, and a freelance stylist. And I recall the first year of the epidemic, the year 2020 when I did not leave my home for over six months. This type of solidarity pushes me to consider my own identity and creative direction. One notable difference is my desire for garments, whether as art or just a piece of apparel, to have the capacity to contribute to the resolution of social, environmental, and humanitarian problems. After the year 2020, I began to study practical solutions to environmental and social concerns, including but not limited to material experiments and practices, design methodologies, and new systems. And in my spare time, I volunteered my abilities by making PPE for the local healthcare worker.

As a brand owner, you will debut your first FW23 collection during the New York Fashion Week in February 2023. What are the main inspirations for this collection? 

The brand is inspired by Chinese farmers, specifically my grandmother and all Chinese grandmothers. Given how my grandmother makes me feel, I want to create a brand that presents a kind of warm, consistent, pragmatic activism. Although life was challenging and demanding, my grandmother, and the farmers in China, always had a positive outlook because of the spirit they carried and believed in. This is the attitude I want young people to possess. I believe this type of activity can not only inspire people to pursue their passion but also make them capable of generating answers to pressing problems. The brand also has a feminist undertone. In the 1970s, at the time of my grandmother, the social revolution began. The concept of equality between men and women has been advocated nationwide in China for the first time. At the time, Chinese women supported "half of the mountain" At the time, China was still transitioning from a poor country to a modern one. So farming is the most important thing. Everyone was a farmer at the time, and everyone was cultivating wastelands. Half of that power is female, and all of them are grandmothers now. But as children, the poetry and stories we read about farming centered on the person we referred to as "farmer Grandpa." I am unfamiliar with the term "Farmer Grandma." Without them, however, there would be no quality of life in China. Consequently, this brand takes its cues from Chinese farmers, whose pragmatic nature it hopes to promote. The brand focuses on tools, particularly hoes, because tools do not make a distinction between men and women and instead represent both genders while in use. Therefore, the brand's name is a combination of the most common and clear method to refer to a fashion house and the equipment that symbolizes the farmer's spirit: hoes. The result is Maison de hoe.

In your statement, you say that your work focuses on "investigating real-world solutions to environmental and societal problems", and you also quote "rights, equality, sustainability, and humanitarian issues" as key themes in your research. How do you incorporate these themes into your collections? 

All of my work has a topic relating to one or more of the aforementioned core concepts. It comes quite smoothly. I believe this is due to the fact that these are the topics that always move me. For instance, "wild growth" promotes sustainability. "Pretty Hurt" is about beauty standards and women's rights. And a recent project entitled "I'm blind, but I have OCD of color-matching" is for the visually impaired community, in which I interviewed eight visually impaired individuals across three countries, conducted over 300 pages of interviews, and attempted to make garments educational so that they become part of the solution via fashion * technology. At this point, I identify my project as experiments: experiments with the goal of finding solutions. Under each project's topic, I continue to experiment with new methods, validate, and accumulate.

Let's talk about your Wild Growth collection. This is a zero-waste collection that is constructed out of leftover pieces of fabric. How did you come up with this idea? 

Exploring sustainability has always been a goal of mine. In addition to "Wild Growth," I've completed several sustainability-related projects using various techniques, such as producing bio-material, recycling fabric scraps, zero-waste patternmaking, etc., and after meeting Julian Roberts, an expert in Zero-waste patternmaking who developed his own methodology, I decided to learn from him and understand how it works. After gaining knowledge from him, I obtained old, unwanted fabric from my friend's residence, as there is no better location to find free, unwanted fabric than from fashion designer pals.

How did you choose the pieces of fabric to work with? How did you pair them into the final garment? In other words, how did you build each piece of the collection?

This is the fun part of the project. I did not actually make the choice. Fabric did it. First, I simply collect sufficient materials for this project. And the initial step in the construction of any garment is to generate a large rectangular fabric and sew it into a loop. Therefore, all I had to do was find pieces of fabric with the same width or length and arrange them into a rectangle. And during the procedure, I had limited options. It is unrelated to design. It involves more mathematics and calculations. After creating the loop, which is the foundation for each piece, I created several negative spaces, which had to be in pairs, and then I connected each pair of negative spaces. The space formed by the combination of negative space was the passageway for the body. It is difficult to describe in words, but the entire procedure resembles a 2D-to-3D calculation. Once the first negative space is established and connected, the remainder of the fabric will naturally indicate where it wants to go; all I need to do is determine whether or not it is possible. Can a body pass through? And if that's the case, I'm doing the sewing.

Recently, we have been witnessing growing attention toward sustainable fashion. Where do you stand in this regard? Do you think brands are really concerned about the Planet, or is it just greenwashing? 

I believe that sustainable fashion should be the industry's choice of direction. However, the procedure involves an excessive number of components. Therefore, if a company claims to be a sustainable company based solely on the usage of natural or eco-friendly materials, I disagree with what it claims. Creating a sustainable brand involves collaboration between the industry and the customer. A new system must be constructed, which will involve revolutions in transportation, materials, material waste, consumer education, etc. In conclusion, this is not an easy problem, nor is it a slogan for acquiring more clients. But I do believe and see that there are sustainable brands out there working incredibly hard and attempting to incorporate their experiences and knowledge into the future system's foundation.

What do you think is the role of artists and designers in addressing such themes? Do we have the power individually to change the system, or do we need a more profound change?

Nothing is more powerful than the power to educate the mind, and artists and designers create works with this type of power. Without this power, any changes will remain superficial. The power to inspire the mind may initially have little impact, but its influence builds with time and has a far greater impact than anticipated. In addition, with the next technology development, artists and designers will be able to produce more astounding creations that defy the standard.

As a designer and brand owner, what would you suggest our readers consider before buying fashion pieces? How can we be more responsible customers?

I will always advise individuals to know themselves, their preferences, and what is comfortable for them. The term "trending" should not be used in the fashion industry. Following the trend will allow the fabric to bury you, rather than you wearing the fabric and revealing who you are. It is essential to slow down the rate of consumption and support local brands. In addition, I will urge individuals to exchange unwanted clothing in order to extend its useful life.

Finally, apart from your collection, what do you hope to accomplish this year in terms of career goals and personal life? 

I hope that this year goes according to plan so that we can launch the brand successfully in February. This year is all about getting things ready and completing the work! Next year, there will be more runway shows. We will also conduct the editorial shoot and collaborate with other artists to construct the Maison de hoe universe using CG, motion capture, and other technologies.