MILAN, Dec 17, 2010 / — As one of the winners of the first creative call of What’s More Alive Than You, (WMATY), Liza Fredrika Aslund is part of that historic moment when fashion designers, architects and product designers created wearable items that are nearer to art than the accepted rules of fashion.
Literally a new brand when it launched this ambitious project of trying to attract fashion, design and art talents from 72 countries, WMATY found itself deluged with entries wherein only 15 artists were selected as winners.
One of them is 30-year-old fashion designer from Sweden, Liza Fredrika Aslund whose entry was a collection of women’s shoes inspired by the environment and made of recycled materials.
WMATY: Tell us who you are and what are you looking for.
Liza Fredrika Aslund : I’m always looking for interesting things that capture my imagination. I like words and often a collection starts with a sentence. I sometimes have a problem relating to the strive for perfection in fashion when what captures my eye is the mistakes in fashion, the imperfection.”
WMATY: What about your education and your cultural context?
LFA: I studied five years at the Danish design school in Copenhagen for an MA in fashion design. I did internships for An-sofie Beck and Alexander McQueen in London. I come from a tiny, kind of boring and sleepy place at the east coast of Sweden with about 1000 inhabitants. I grew up with lots of freedom to build stuff, jump off cliffs and hang with my brother.
WMATY: Which kind of perspective would you give to fashion based on your work?
LFA: Sometimes the perfection in fashion can become boring and controlling. I like for fashion to explore the ugly and not so perfect part of us. But in the end turn it in to something you still want to wear and want to look at.
WMATY: What do you think about the chance given by What’s More Alive Than You™, which allows you to turn your background into a career in designing accessories?
LFA: I’ve always loved accessories and I think it´s interesting to learn more about the process of turning my idea into something wearable. It´s something I definitely want to work more with.
WMATY: What about the name of the brand “What’s More Alive Than You ™”? Do you think this brand name could reflect a contemporary idea of fashion?
LFA: Today everything is about staging yourself and fashion is very individual. What brands you like and how you interpret fashion. It can be to show or hide who you are.
WMATY:Wwhat do you expect by the present and by the future?
LFA: I just finished my MA at the Danish Design School and now I’m looking for a job where I can use the creative tools I learned in school and learn more about the industry. In the future I would like to have a job where I can have more creative freedom and inspire others.
WMATY: What would you like to say to anyone who wants to join our creative calls?
LFA: It’s interesting to be in the process from the beginning to the end. To work with the adjustments you have to do to take the idea from beeing just an idea to something that works commercial and technical without compromising your vision to much.
The first permanent Collection selection of WMATY winners is online: www.WMatY.com
