The next coming weeks narrow down who will walk in this year’s SCAD FASHWKND. The Manor had the pleasure of watching senior fashion major Rain Yuchen Xie interact with her pieces during a candid conversation about herself and her work. She is charming and humble, while also remaining deeply in tune with how her work speaks beyond reality and into the spiritual unknown. Rain has already had her work featured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Rei Kawakubo exhibition, but this collection is softer, with much more elegant fabrics to help create these conversations.
Why don’t we just jump right into your collection since it’s right here?
The collection is based on my experience about learning tarot cards and astrology and I was always thinking about studying more. So I just created my whole collection based on that. Basically, I created six looks based on six different characters. You can see in my pieces I have a dragon, an angel, fortune teller and devil. The overall theme for my collection is occultism.
That’s so cool; I recently just go more interested in tarot readings. What got you interested?
I feel like this isn’t totally inspired by tarot cards, but more based on my study of astrology. I have been studying for four years and usually, I will create [birth] charts for my friends and as I get deeper into this area of occultism, I learn more about the mystery in religion. Last quarter I took mythology class and went to Italy to get more inspiration. Religion is really where I got inspired.
What is your Zodiac sign?
I am a Virgo. How about you?
I am an Aquarius.
Oh, nice! Some people say I look like an Aquarius. [Smiles] But here, I want to show you my line up. You can see that I use so many delicate fabrics, like 70 percent of my collection is based on hand sewing. Before I get to use a machine, I need to use a hand basing to put the silk together, or the organza together.
Can you talk a little more about your birth chart, and how that relates to your collection?
That’s a good one. So I am a Virgo and many people think that we are practical and more serious, but I am also a rising Libra so I think or act more freely. I think that is kind of the feeling of my collection.
Tell me more about each of your pieces and how they connect back to some of your studies.
For example, it is menswear and I wanted to have this flowy feeling so it is a spring and summer collection. I used so much silk or velvet to bring a more romantic feeling to everything. This plays into my theme because it can lift people’s imagination by bringing people back to the age [of astrology] meanwhile I want to bring in some future elements, like modern feelings. I do lots of prints, digital prints, to add a young feeling to it. If you want to see the prints, I have a dragon top that I did all by myself.
So you drew this and had it printed on fabric?
Yes. I used a website to have them print on the fabric. There is also this one of angels called “real angel,” but it’s fake. It is not a real angel, so it’s ironic. I drew a sign for an angel here… It’s not finished, but to give you an idea of how it is going to look. I am very happy about my fabric and how my prints come out.
What is your favorite part about your pieces?
The fabrics. I made some of the fabric by cutting the pieces and recreating the texture. Or I mix several fabrics into one by hand sewing
How many hours have you put in so far?
Nights and nights.
[Giggles]
I feel like I am making something I would wear personally, but in more of a dramatic way.
I have heard a lot of buzz about you and your work. Can you tell me about some of your previous accreditations?
I entered a competition last year related to Rei Kawakubo’s exhibition and made a dress that eventually got displayed at the Met and won fan favorite. I feel like that is the most exciting thing that happened last year. The exhibition was separated into sections and I got lucky. We didn’t know the title of each section yet, but I had chosen my theme as past, present, and future. I feel like that could deliver my understanding of Kawakubo’s work the best. But when the exhibition started, I realized they were the same titles. I feel like I could say I really understood the exhibition and Rei so well. Personally, I really love her designs and her works.
It was kind of an intense competition. Because I was in New York last summer interning, I didn’t have a sewing machine. I had to fly back [to Savannah] and fly back to New York to make it. I had a professor introduce me to a model who walks for Rick Owens and I got lucky to get him as my model.
The photos turned out so good. Everything came together so good. I had a good team.
Congratulations! Can you tell me more about how that experience helped you with this collection?
I feel like I had really gotten into the philosophy of inspiration, that I can get inspiration from my thoughts. Something that you cannot see, but you think about and just getting more inspiration from what I thought every day. And suddenly, I think astrology and philosophy was something I was always thinking about. Why can’t I put everything together into a new collection? And all of that understanding? I learned that everything is based on what people think. Is there an occult? Is there an understanding of the unknown universe? I want to make my version of that understanding. That’s how this collection came from my other experience.
How do you see art history connecting to your work?
I think that knowing what has happened in the past will help you and guide you to understand the future. It can make you have predictions about the future. I got so into art history I even went to Italy. Just walking in that environment made me think about how fashion is a part of art and it is not just the business. It is connected to the spirit of the past and it is going to lead to the future. I feel like art history is the base to making art in general.
Wow, Italy?
I went to Italy for inspiration and fabric searching. I had already made the muslin, so I went to find the fabrics and I feel like that experience really helped.
Where are you hoping to go after you graduate?
Hopefully, I will go to New York and then I wish I could work for Raf Simons, who works for Calvin Klein. I want to study more about art, art history, and fashion in Europe.
Written by Kylie Ruffino
Photos by Lucy Hewitt