“It was gorgeous silk! It was from an imperialist village. It was some of the finest material that you can access in the world.”-Brianna Barros

My phone buzzes and a text from Sunny Tran pops up on the screen. I read, “Hi Gabrielle! Could we have the meeting a little bit later? Like 9:50 or 10? I am in a meeting for the collection now. My partner and I just found out that we got a $750 dollar fund approval. We will be going to NYC this Saturday to buy fabrics and other materials. Must plan ahead.”

When the clock strikes 10 pm, I find out that Sunny is still in the meeting with her business partner. Yet, being the gracious person that Sunny is, she invites me over anyway. Honestly, things could not have worked out any better. This is an opportunity to see the designers in action and to interview them both.

As I enter Sunny’s room, dripping wet from the rain, I am in awe. Framed photography and beautifully crafted sketches of clothing cover her walls. In the corner sits a sewing machine and several other embellishments.

Brianna sits on Sunny’s bed, with a myriad of notes, sketches, and drawing utensils spread out around her. After introducing myself to Brianna and getting settled, I open up my Voice Memos application and hit record

G: I can already tell that this is going to be a great interview. Sunny, let’s begin with your background and how you entered the fashion world.

S: When I was in high school in Canada, I was very interested in fabrics and costume; I was in charge of the costumes for a really big show called "One World." I had the chance to work with people from more than 100 countries.

G: Wow!

S: I also decided to work in the theater department of my school, while I was in Canada. I worked by making the costumes and designing the costumes for different theater projects. That’s where it all started.

G: When did you switch from focusing on costumes to focusing on fashion?

S: So when I was at school in Canada, I did a lot of sketching. A lot of sketching. I took visual art for two years. My teacher encouraged me to create a collection. With her help, and a lot of my friends' help, I had about three collections while I was in Canada.

G: How did you keep yourself inspired?

S: I’m very interested in women, and showing the different sides and different parts of women…emotionally. I had been showing it through photography. But it was so nice to do it through different collections.

G: Tell me a little bit about your various collections.

S: My first collection was called "Place with Colors." I was so interested in colors at that point. And then, later on, I kind of tried to use fewer colors.

G: Very interesting.

S: Yes. My next collection was called "Place with Shapes." I cared a lot more about the shapes and the texture of the material. Another collection I have is called "The Beauty." I was so inspired by the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette. You know, I saw something in her that I wanted to show in the collection.

G: What was it that you saw in her?

S: I’ve watched so many documentaries and films about her; she inspires me! Many people only see her as being a chastiser and ruthless, but I believe that she also had a very soft side. She is a strongwoman. Also, she was interested in costumes and in fabrics in general.

G: That’s fantastic.

S: I did a collection at Skidmore College called "The Muse." I wanted to empower women through this collection, because normally a lot of girls have to wear super tight clothing in order to show that they are attractive. Women can wear super loose clothes and be incredibly attractive too.

G: I love the way you think.

S: Also! The designs and garments that I worked on really make women feel more comfortable being who they are. The way I empower women is shown in the material that I use. I use a lot of silk, different kinds of silk, which is really soft. It’s soft, but an extremely powerful fabric, at the same time.

G: And what are you working on at the moment? With Brianna?

S: Brianna and I are designing this collection called "Dommi." (Looks to Brianna), do you want to talk about "The Dommi Project"?

B: We came up with "Dommi" because it is a gender-neutral pronoun for a parental unit. So, it’s the mixture of Dad and Mom. We were looking at a lot of different words and different cultures that embody this idea of gender neutrality.

G: What specifically connected you emotionally with the word "Dommi"?

B: We like "Dommi" because it stands for what our collection stands for. Which is, a modified version of adulthood. This is moving into what’s been going on in fashion in general right now, which is a lot of androgynous clothing. We also chose "Dommi" because we thought that it sounded cute and it has a ring to it.

G: It absolutely has a ring to it.

B: Consider Will Smith’s son. Will Smith’s son has been a pioneer for men wearing this androgynous clothing. But, it’s very rare that you’ll see a guy, even at Skidmore College, wearing androgynous clothing.

G: Do you feel that it’s important for designers to push for more androgynous clothing?

B: I think it’s very important for designers to push for and to create more androgynous clothing. So that’s what we are really interested in here, with "Dommi." We want to combine the elements of feminine and masculine into one line.

G: Brianna, tell me a little bit about your background.

B: I was interested in fashion when I was really little. I used to dance a lot, and I would help to design my own costumes. I also used to model. Through modeling, I met this woman who was an international merchandiser and buyer. She ended up taking me under her wing for four summers. I was interning with her and buying a lot of the designer brands. So, I got to see, up close, the entire sweep of designer product that was due to come out roughly three seasons later.

G: Oh my goodness.

B: I know! I got to hand pick it with her, feel the fabrics, see what the trends were. I got really good at identifying trends, colors, and fabrics. By the end of it all, I could recognize a brand with just a quick look. I could also distinguish between something that was well-made, and authentic, versus something that was counterfeit.

G: What an experience that must have been! So, you worked on "The Muse" with Sunny, right?

B: Yes. We worked together by combing our talents. I did more of the production stuff for that project.

G: I was at the show, the clothing was flawless.

B: It’s true. I mean, I immediately recognized the high quality of Sunny’s fabrics. I knew that the models would need to bring a certain air to that specific type of fabric. It was gorgeous silk! It was from an imperialist village. The silk that she used is some of the finest material that you can access in the world.

G: Do you want the clothing that you create for "The Dommi" collection to have the same quality?

B: Yes. We want to come at this line with a really high standard for materials. Actually, the material that designers use, oftentimes, becomes a huge point of controversy.

G: How so?

B: We must ask ourselves, do we create for someone who wants a piece that they can wear for life? Or do we create for someone who wants something that is simply, “in trend”? The two are very different.

G: What are some of the other challenges that you guys are facing? Not merely as designers, but simply as students in college?

B: I think one thing that’s tough with college is to find models that embody the brand or whatever we are going for. And because this project is under the business department, we want to be thinking about showcasing the brand in different ways, but also keeping it very consistent.

G: I see.

B: For The Muse, we put on a runway show. However, training models takes a lot of time. So, instead of having a runway show, we are partnering with a student who has drone technology. We are trying to push limits in terms of how we present the collection.

G: Using media and film is a wonderful idea.

B: I think that the fashion show was really fun, but the stress was going towards all of the wrong things. Whereas, it should be all about the garment.

* * *

A big thank you goes out to Sunny Tran and Brianna Barros for this interview. Please take a look at Sunny's website, the link is posted below.

http://www.thuyduongtranthi.com/

Best,

The College Interviewer, Gabrielle Pagnozzi-Schwam ‘18