Meet Maura, a digital fashion designer with incredible talent, deep passion, and a wildly creative mind.
She is sharing with you today interesting fashion insight along with an exclusive view "behind the scenes" of her incredible collection.
Join us for this captivating fashion talk.
What does fashion mean to you?
Art, expression, presentation. It’s a visual, textural, and emotional manifestation of who we are or who we want to be.
What inspired you to become a fashion designer?
At an early age, my grandmother would give me free reign in her sewing room, I really took to it. She was a milliner and had the most amazing textiles, trims, and bobbles. Even to this day, I am easily distracted (and inspired) by a shiny trinket. My mother made intricate, beautiful embroidered pieces and encouraged my sewing too, even letting me turn our family dining room into a make-shift workroom. With such resources at my fingertips, I'm sure I had the best dressed Barbie dolls in the area. Another influence was my godmother, she worked as a buyer and loved her job - travel, style, and excitement. The brilliant talent of these women certainly guided my path towards fashion.
How did your passion collide with digital fashion?
Perhaps by luck. Not too long ago, while working in flat pattern software, I happened upon the “3D” option and had to check it out. Two minutes later, I was hooked. What was this magic? How can I use this? I must know more. From that point on I’ve pursued making digital fashion part of my process and am continually exploring, learning, and honing this new craft.
Can you tell us more about digital fashion to help fashion enthusiasts understand it better?
It’s Pandora’s box. In a good way. Digital fashion is a way to express style and art like never before. It is the perfect way to explore your fashion tastes and have some fun. It is inclusive and encompassing. Digital fashion is an outlet to take fashion risks without the risk! A bubble ball-gown not for you? Delete. Next. Just like that, you can move on to your next style inclination.
Sustainability is gradually becoming a priority in the fashion industry, what does sustainability mean to you as a designer?
Up-cycle, recycle, re-use have been a part of my life since I can remember. I was always taught that our habits impact our environment, and I find great pleasure in giving new life to an old item. As a designer, sustainability translates into making the most with the least. On a digital platform, I can create dozens of styles responsibly while leaving Mother Nature in peace.
Do you think sustainable fashion can take over fast fashion in the near future?
It can and will (have to). Digital fashion dresses our digital lives. Digital fashion is sustainable fashion. We can wear anything we want, paint any vision of style in our on-screen lives digitally with a minimal footprint on the ecosystem. Digital fashion can achieve the impulse of keeping up with trends that come and go without the lasting, damaging factors that come with the mechanics of creating what we wear.
Where do you see digital fashion in the future?
Everywhere. The agility and inexhaustible creativity that digital fashion provides to both creators and consumers cannot be ignored. The technology is bounding forward at epic speeds. It is just a matter of time before we’re dressing in our holographic closets on a daily basis. Refining our IRL wardrobes to meaningful key pieces that have longevity and relying on a digital wardrobe for the wow factor will become a staple approach to the way we present ourselves.
What inspired your beautiful collection?
"Stratus" was inspired by looking up! In this corner of the world, we get to enjoy stunning sunrises, sunsets, and thunderstorms. I wanted to create something airy and graceful yet sleek and edgy to evoke the moods of our precious atmosphere. Inspiration for my collections comes from anywhere and everywhere, nothing is out of bounds, when the vision strikes, it strikes. Even the foil wrapping of some leftovers inspired a recent digital dress. Being able to capture these whims quickly is a luxury of working in digital fashion.
Can you tell us more about the process of creating your digital collection?
A scrappy notebook is where it starts. I collect ideas that spark the creative flame, sometimes combining a few concepts to land the theme. Mixing fashion notions and trying unique color, pattern, and texture combinations really energizes my process. Then, it’s time to go with the CLO (can I say CLO?). I love bringing “what if” mashups to life on the screen. Being somewhat of a newbie to digital fashion, I constantly challenge myself to expand my skills, provoke my aesthetic and push my boundaries.
What would be your advice to upcoming digital designers?
Go for it! Designing digitally removes constraints and opens limitless creativity. Find what inspires you and start drafting. And, if you are not sure what your design voice is, you can experiment fearlessly on the digital platform until you find it. Don't be afraid. If you make a mistake, run with it, happy accidents usually lead to new discoveries.
Find out more about Maura's creations here.