THREADS Designer Spotlight: Kirstie Fish

Apparel merchandising and design senior, Kirstie Fish, is designing for THREADS for the first time, and taking full advantage of her last chance to participate.

“It’s my last year and I thought that I would have more time to devote to it, which I actually didn’t,” Fish said. “And I thought that having the pattern making class would help.”

In previous years, THREADS has been based around an initial theme created by the producers. From this, designers would then implement the theme into designs and create the overall concept for their collection.

Producers this year felt that a theme restricted designers’ creativity too much consequentially, doing away with a theme and instead dividing the show into two sections, spring/summer and fall/winter.

Fish initially anticipated a theme that her collection would be tailed to. Channeling inspiration from the seasons, Fish focused on nature.

“Nature was what really inspired me at first thinking about the different seasons,” Fish said. “I’m using neutral colors such as white, brown, olive green and a light champagne pink.

Fish designed three different looks. A dress paired with a jacket, a V-neck dress and rolled shorts with a flowy tank that has a strip in the back that is knitted.

Keeping the garments end use along with the season designs were being constructed for, fabrics utilized were light and more flexible, specifically knits, stretch denim and cotton.

“I mostly used a flat pattern to make everything,” Fish said. “The first dress I made from scratch, and the rest were altered from other patterns that I had.”

Struggling mostly with time, between balancing classes and designing a full collection time was an obstacle. Fish assumed, as a senior, that she would have more time available after completing core classes.

However, classes required more time then anticipated and as a result, designing took up much more free time. 

“I learned a lot from designing for THREADS,” Fish said. I learned the importance of making sure people are measured accurately, how important communication is, especially when involving schedules and really working together with people.”

Fish entered for a couple awards at the show such as first year designer, and the buyers choice, which involves writing a paper explaining why the collection is fit for the target market.

Winning an award would be great, but Fish said she has already had an amazing experience.