Today we present the second round of interviews to the students who took part to the workshop THEARTS+. Here are the answers Giulia Profeta from Politecnico di Milano and Eugenia Ioppolo from IUAV University of Venice gave us.

THE ARTS+ Fair. Courtesy Europeana Foundation, CC BY-SA

Europeana Fashion: First and foremost, can you tell us something about yourself? How and why did you become involved with fashion?

Giulia: Right after high school, I was very confused: I was thinking about engineering, economic, medicine, all scientific fields which were close to my training, but that did not really interest me or made me curious. Then, in between the proposals for study at Politecnico di Milano, I found the design courses, particularly for fashion and, although I was a bit scared, I decided to give it a try, and I don’t regret it. I got my BA in fashion design with specialization in knitwear and now, always at the Politecnico di Milano, I am attending a Master in Design for the fashion industry. The course has quite a wide span, from projects for sportswear brands such as Decathlon and SLAM, which are aimed at exploring new technologies, to communication skills and marketing.

Eugenia: I do not know exactly how I came to study fashion: it has always been a field that has intrigued me. I enrolled in the degree ‘Fashion and costume science” at the Sapienza. There I fell in love for the very relationship between art and fashion, and how this relationship has developed through history and according to different personalities. Two years ago I joined the graduate program in “Visual arts and fashion” at IUAV of Venice. There I learned to juggle theoretical courses – which cover both the fashion that art – and practical workshops – sewing, design, knitwear. At the beginning of the second year I left Venice for an exchange at Stockholm University, where I followed some courses focused specifically on research. I’m currently writing my thesis.

EF: Tell us your experience: how was the workshop? What are the main features of the project developed by your group?

G: We had three days of intensive work with specialists who shared with us their professional skills. The app developed by my group is called VISUALIZE and can be defined as a library that offers daily digital images from different categories of interest: the user can choose whether to deepen the proposed theme, leafing through the tunnel and save his or her favorite pictures, or change theme. Surely there are things that can be improved, but in its simplicity I personally find it very useful; in fact, thanks to the possibility to create folders, the user can save and move on to review the contents: this is very important for a designer or a creative, because it is easy to select images to realize mood boards, concept, or perhaps find inspiration for the prints.

E:  The workshop was quite challenging and interesting. The first day we were introduced to the Europeana project. We started developing some individual projects, related to the Europeana Fashion contents. Then six projects were selected, we got divided into groups and each group had to develop one project and create a business plan. Finally, we presented our projects in front of the board that was responsible of selecting the ‘winning’ idea. The project chosen was ‘Fantasia’, the one I have been working on with two other girls: Tetiana Baran and Victoria Dubinina. The work to which I took part was born as ‘Dressformer’, which was a free software that would allow to create new styles of clothes. But this project has since proved very weak and so we have continued to develop it and change it until we got to ‘Fantasia’. Dedicated especially to illustrators and fashion designers and interior designers, the program was aimed at creating new patterns. Clients, with a search of images made available through Europeana, could decide which ones to use and could modify them – using a special design, a color, combining multiple images – to create unique patterns. All of this, while remaining connected, thus directly creating an online portfolio, and especially having the program always at disposal.

EF: We are curious about your general impressions on the experience: did you like? Did you find this useful? You can use it in your path of personal study?

G: My impression is definitely positive: it was set in a very professional manner, and although we had not experience as app designers, organizers and experts have been helpful in explaining very simply how this sector works. I found particularly useful and interesting the explanation about how to make a business plan, and the final confrontation with the board; I believe that a good designer should always keep in mind the market and the limits of his or her projects.

E: In general I found the experience quite positive, even though a bit tiring: times to think of new and interesting ideas and turn them into projects were very tight. The part that I found most interesting, however difficult because I have no basis in economics, has been that relating to marketing. Thinking and creating a business plan of the project and above all making a good presentation allowed me to get involved and especially to acquire the knowledge that I missed. In particular, having to work in a group with other people who I did not know, with different paths of study and ways of thinking has enriched me so much.

EF: As a fashion student, how do you think you might find useful products such as those developed by the various working groups?

G: I think that Fantasia, the winning project, could be a great starting point to experience digital content. It is very simple and I think it can be both useful for creatives and designers, and fun for the general public, since it can turn the experience into a game for users who are not working in the fashion industry.

EF: Do you use digital platforms in your creative practice? If so, what and how you use them?

G: I mainly use Pinterest for my research, and to create moodboards. I visit quite often online shopping sites of the brands that I believe may be the main competitors for the type of project I am working on, to ‘spy’ what the market offers and to differentiate myself. Since I believe that in the fashion communication is very important, I often visit a site called ISUU, which collects magazines and publications.

E: In my career as a fashion student, I used a lot databases like Pinterest and Tumblr for the visual research, especially for labs and to develop my collections. I also find very interesting the work done by Academia.edu, a website for researchers, dedicated to the sharing of scientific publications and essays.