Parsons student explores how her fashion choices have evolved.
Samantha Dreibelbis is a sophomore studying Fashion Design at The New School. She grew up in Florida, where she attended a design high school which ultimately led her to pursue fashion design in New York City. Her consistent love of fashion and her artistic nature has set her up for a successful future, but for now, Dreibelbis sits down to reflect on her fashion evolution.
Where did your interest in fashion come from?
I started dipping into fashion design because my mom used to hand sew a lot. Then she taught me how to do that, and then I used those skills to make clothes for my dolls. After that, I went to this art fest thing, and one of my professors was like, ‘oh, I think you would be very good in fashion design,’ and I was like, ‘oh, I didn’t even think of that.’ I was just focused on art at the moment. So then I started branching out and then started doing fashion design stuff.
Would you say that art plays a big role in your view of fashion and the work you’re doing in fashion now?
Yeah. My work that I do in fine arts is very abstract. I try to take stuff from reality, and I alter it, and I paint it, and I use very bright colors. I use those shapes, those curves, to translate into my fashion work. And my fashion work is very avant-garde. So, it kind of relates back to my fine arts. There’s no separation between both of them. They just seem like they all go together.
Before coming to Parsons, what did your style look like?
Well, I went to a design high school, so I did fashion design there. Before that, I would base [my fashion] on architecture. But towards the end of high school, I started making my own narratives and I started going off this idea of the rat apocalypse. Right now, in Parsons, that’s what I’ve been working on for all my classes. I just bring up that same [theme] but before that, [my fashion] still looked very avant-garde but not inspired by my own creativity.
Do you think that your fashion or your view on fashion has changed since you went to that design school?
Before I went to design school, my fashion sense was really bad. Then I started getting more artsy and wearing all my earrings and dyeing my hair, getting piercings. All that just branched out when I was in high school and I felt like it was more accepted and more comfortable to go out and wear that. And because I was in that hub of going to a design school, I felt like I thought it was normal to wear the stuff I do now. Then I realized, once I left Florida and went to a different state, people would stare at me. They would be like, ‘what are you wearing,’ I was like I thought this was normal.
What projects have you been working on recently?
For my design class, I am working on a collection, not making anything, but right now I am doing an illustration of ten pieces. And until yesterday, I did like 60 designs in my sketchbook which is insane. But we’ve been working on it for a month, so today I finally decided on which ones to fully render and do flats and everything for them. And it’s inspired by the apocalypse.
