Sijie Li

Profession

MA Fashion Artefact Alum

College

London College of Fashion

Person Type

Alumni

Biography

Sijie Li is a fashion accessories designer with a background in leather design. She is fascinated by colours, material combinations, handcraft and playful designs. In her MA Fashion Artefact final project, she focused on using bright colours and soft materials to improve mood.

Interview

Could you tell us a bit about your graduate showcase collection and what inspired you to make this specific project?

‘Emotional mask’ is a response to the increasing issue of social anxiety which was inspired by my personal life as I suffer from social anxiety. This project explores how masks and gloved puppets can perform as playful wearable therapy tools to help express and shift the negative emotions of people with social anxiety.

When I came to the UK I was far away from my family and friends. Everything was very unfamiliar. Coupled with the language barriers, I became more and more afraid of communicating with others and unwilling to share my feelings. I always got embarrassed in social occasions and I felt my social anxiety was getting worse. So, I wanted to design a series of treatment tools to relieve my negative emotions.

What impact do you hope your project will have?

I hope my work can convey a sense of optimism, relieve people's anxiety and release stress. I hope I can change the uneasy emotions of the wearer into playful ones.

What excites you the most about stepping into the fashion industry?

The most exciting thing is that people like and choose your design, it's like what you design becomes a connecting line that resonates with others. I have great passion for design and I am deeply interested in it. I wish to design my favourite accessories conveying my concepts, and demonstrate my preference through my work, making it part of the people who wear it.

Think five years into the future – what would you love to be doing?

I think I will continue to do fashion design in five years, haha, maybe I will have a small studio of my own. Let’s look forward to it～