Maeve Millwood, ideaXme rising fashion ambassador, interviews designer Corie Ruochen Fan who graduated from Central St Martins in Fashion Design with Marketing, BA Hons in 2018. She has produced a vivid, exquisite collection, rich in texture.
Inspiration drawn from a nostalgia for China of the past
Corie’s inspiration is drawn from an opposition to the materialistic societal views of modern-day China and a nostalgia for the past. Her objective is to challenge the established definition of ‘luxury’ by creating ‘luxury’ out of cheap materials, that is, by performing a little alchemy.
Materials Corie Ruochen uses in her work
Materials include faux lace and knit textures using latex, as well as a faux ‘plastic’ made from semi-skimmed milk that is no longer suitable for human consumption.
How one designer’s exhibition compelled her to embark on a career in fashion
Corie embarked on her quest to enter the fashion industry after seeing the Alexander McQueen exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum, New York. “It shone a light on the whole industry for me”.
Nomination for Maison/o Green Trail
The collection has had an exciting reception receiving support from Abel and Cole and a nomination for Maison/0 Green Trail. Long term, Corie would like to work with Stella McCartney and launch her own brand.
Corie: “I wanted to surprise people and challenge the mainstream to think ‘Hey, this might be an option”.
Maeve Millwood, ideaXme’s rising fashion designer visited the Central St Martins degree show and interviewed Corie to find out more. The interview sits on all ideaXme’s platforms, including iTunes, SoundCloud, Radio Public, Spotify, YouTube and www.radioideaxme.com.
Corie: “I have a nostalgic feeling towards China. I left when I was 12 years old. There are so many things, for example how life was in working class China that I find fascinating. It is sad that this way of living has been demolished. A lot of what I found genuine in everyday life has disappeared. In the past, people were genuinely happier. There was more to life than consumerism”.
Re-examination of what constitutes luxury
Corie decided to tackle materialism with a re-examination of what constitutes luxury. Her goal was to redefine it. Her objective, to create luxury items using sustainable and cheap materials. She experimented with sour milk and used a latex which she came across as a child.
Corie: “I have conducted research into classic consumption. China has a population of 1.4 billion people. It has the largest consumption of plastic in the world. Many products are being produced. Hence, the large amount of packaging used. I think China is sacrificing its environment for what it sees as progress.”
Many brands are redefining luxury but Corie’s core focus is specifically to counteract consumerism in China by doing “the opposite” of what is being done there.
Using sour milk and latex to create something beautiful
Corie: “I wanted to create something beautiful out of sour milk and this other material that I use, latex, is actually what I used to play with as a child”.
The semi skimmed material is one of the key materials that stand out in Corie’s collection. Although, the use of milk fibre in clothing isn’t new. It was used for clothing as early as the 1930s, Corie’s application and designs are original.
How Corie created a material
Corie: “Everyone was approaching the project in the second year from a recycling or upcycling perspective, but I was interested in material innovation. When the milk goes sour the protein separates itself. That protein becomes very hard and very rigid. I just kept on experimenting. I added something like tree gum to make it more malleable. My technique evolved. I created the material”.
Corie stumbled across the beginnings of this process when researching material innovation online and found the soured milk ‘plastic’ listed as a science project for children to do in school. Challenges working with this material included time management as it took a long time to develop the material as well as omitting a terrible smell!
Corie: “I played with the material when I was a child. At school, we made little drawings, put them in the microwave and then stuck them on the wall”.
These links to childhood strengthen the nostalgic roots of her collection. They also reinforce the fact that all innovation has history. Even the most cutting-edge design and science builds on processes that went before.
Challenging the norm
Corie: “I wanted to challenge the norm and demonstrate an exciting sustainable material”.
“20% of the estimated 1.7 million tonnes of annual waste created during food manufacturing in the UK alone is dairy, second in volume only to meat and fish”. Source: All things Bio. So, should more designers consider using milk fibres as material?
Corie: “I came to realise that no matter what I wanted to create, in terms of fashion, there’s always a designer who’s done it before. So, I think what’s important for the fashion industry at the moment is to do what we’re capable of doing. Make it sustainable and reduce waste. That’s the way for fashion to move forward”.
Recent research commissioned by Unilever in 2017 highlights that sustainability is increasingly popular amongst consumers. A third of consumers (33%) are now choosing to buy from brands they believe are doing social or environmental good.
Trailblazers such as Corie not only produce sustainable products. Sometimes they ignite interest in an existing, yet under utilized materials. Furthermore, light up the future for a whole industry. And show all of us that beautiful things can be created with a low environmental impact.
A challenge to mainstream designers. If Corie can do this. How about you?
Further interviews with sustainable designers conducted by Maeve Millwood:
Sustainable jewellery designer disrupts fashion landscape
Credits: Maeve Millwood interview text, and audio
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