Photo by Daisy Simmons
Sueah and Aria met during their freshman year of college, and they’ve been supporting each other’s personal projects ever since. Sueah has modeled for every issue of Aria’s magazine, MadeWithCare (@madewithcaremagazine), while Aria styled shoots for Sueah’s brand, BySueah (@bysueah). The girls recently graduated and have spent the summer frolicking around NYC. They’ve also been collaborating on “PARTY CRASHERS!”, a photoshoot for MadeWithCare featuring new pieces for BySueah.
Last week, Aria and Sueah sat down at Cellar 36 to discuss their creative inspirations, current projects, takes on current trends, and craziest stories while working in fashion, over oysters and a little too much wine.
Aria: Hi Sueah!
Sueah: Hi Aria!
Aria: I’m so excited for us to interview each other. And for you to try oysters.
Sueah: Yay! I’m so excited. The oysters look a little scary though.
Aria: Haha, it's worth it, I promise. How’s your summer been so far?
Sueah: Good! I mean, as you know, I just graduated from Parsons in May, and I’ve just spent my last unemployed summer shoe shopping and galavanting around the city. With you and Aashi mostly.
Aria: Yes! I also graduated this May, from NYU! I’ve been playing a lot of cards over drinks, and doing a lot of frolicking while I’ve been looking for a job. Summer is just so awesome, I’ve been taking all these multi-hour walks because the weather has been so nice! And of course taking advantage of outdoor seating.
Sueah: Yes. Love. Literally us right now. I guess I’ve also been working on my new pieces for BySueah. And we’ve been working on our recent shoot for MadeWithCare.
Aria: Yes totally. It’s really exciting to get back into doing things for the magazine now that I have more time post-grad. I feel like since I graduated I’ve been super inspired to create. What would you say inspires you the most as a creative?
Sueah: I would say in general I'm the most inspired by my friendships because it's just the most fulfilling thing in the world to me, and I feel like when I have that support from my friends, it inspires me to keep going and working on things that I'm passionate about.
Aria: Yes, oh my god. I'd definitely also say my friends, just because I feel like I'm super lucky to have a lot of super duper creative friends! I’ll be thinking about a concept I want to shoot and then I’ll think of my friend who's really good at photography and then I’ll wonder what her work would look like with my other friend who does really good animation stuff and so on and so on.
Sueah: Yeah, I mean we’ve worked together on a few shoots now, I feel like you’re so good at curating a team and like a vibe for each project. Like putting things together and having a clear perspective.
Aria: Thanks!
Sueah: Yeah.
Aria: I'd say I'm also very inspired just by, like, the things I'm seeing in my day-to-day life around me. Especially in the time that I've lived in the Lower East side, where everyone's very trendy and there's a lot of really interesting fashion going on. I feel like whenever I'm walking around, I'm always really intrigued by what people are wearing.
Sueah: Yeah, I totally feel the same way. Like, when I see someone dressed really cool while I’m walking down the street and I'm like, I feel inspired.
Aria: Exactly.
Sueah: I’ve also recently just been getting a lot of inspiration from specific colors that I like, and just the vibe I get from it if that makes sense. Like I’ll fall in love with color and then get really obsessed with it and then I make everything in that color.
Aria: What are colors that are inspiring you right now?
Sueah: I mean, right now, like teal is having such a big moment. To me it has such a nostalgic energy to it, it just reminds me of things I loved as like, an early tween. Like being 10 years old, going shopping at Justice where everything was pink and teal sequins, and little things I'd get from Claire's for my birthday.
Aria: Yes, so cute!
Sueah: I've also been really into a deep royal purple, it's so princess to me. And, I mean, pink always. Pink to me just like encapsulates the most divine feminine energy and I love just feeling like my most girliest self.
Aria: Always. Yeah. Awesome.
Sueah: Why do you think we’re so drawn to teal and pink right now?
Aria: Um, wow. I feel like I personally have always been drawn to pink, just because it's bright and it’s such a statement. But more than that it's such a clear motif of femininity, like you said. And I feel like the teal craze is kind of an extension of the 2014 vibe that everyone has been on for the past two years. It's one of those parts of the Tumblr and early-2000s aesthetics that is very defining the time. And so people are into it again in the same way they're into those eras.
Sueah: Yes totally, it's so synonymous with the trend of everything being nostalgic these days.
Aria: There's this millennial TikToker that I watch whose entire thing is that she grew up during the 2000s with all of the Paul Frank and ultra low-rise-butt-crack-out jeans and polo layering. And she like posts videos where she recreates moments from going to high school and college during that time. And I feel like whenever I'm watching those videos, it's so reminiscent of a time that I wasn't quite a part of, but was still super visible to me from TV shows and magazines and other media. And so like, now it feels like I get to be a part of it.
Sueah: Yeah, it circled back and now we can really appreciate it again.
Aria: Totally. What are your thoughts on whimsy-core?
Sueah: I think like the whole rhinestone bedazzling thing has been everywhere lately and it's being named whimsy-core, but I just don’t think that’s what being whimsy is. The name just doesn't correlate to me, like, I don't know, it's just bedazzling. That's not like the definition of being whimsical.
Aria: Yeah. Wait, I agree with that, honestly. I feel like whimsy, like the word, has been in my friend group's vernacular for way longer than just this summer. Like it's obviously not a new concept. But it's kind of been given these traits this summer that have to do a lot with like bedazzling and rhinestones and kind of this like gaudy, Fancy-Nancy-esque vibe. Which is why I'm not, like, anti the concept of whimsy-core but I’m kind of anti-the concept of, like, bedazzling being titled as whimsy-core.
Sueah: Yeah. Like, why don't we just call it bedazzling?
Aria: Like, whimsy, to me, is more spiritual and individual. It's more rooted in personality than consumption. I don't know—kind of, in a weird way, this whole debate reminds me of when the word ethereal was super in, and everything was ethereal and everything was godlike. But at the end of the day, these are things that can only really be felt, not seen. And so when you try to turn them into a visual trend, I feel like it never really translates.
Sueah: I agree. It’s very subjective.
Aria: Yeah, I do understand, like, the critique though of how it’s single use plastic which is harmful. However—and I feel this about every trend honestly—it's just like, if you like it and it genuinely is bringing you joy and you aren’t overconsuming the trend, I don't really see the problem.
Sueah: I agree. Like, bedazzle if you want to bedazzle. There's bigger things to worry about.
Aria: I feel like there’s also a really interesting thing that's happening right now that's related to whimsy-core and the aesthetics that were associated with Gen Z's childhood and how they are coming back in a really big way. I keep seeing discourse on the internet about how women are like, ”infantilizing” themselves by partaking in them. Like, everyone was so riled up over Olivia Rodrigo's babydoll dress, but babydoll tops are just a style of clothing that have always existed. And like, it doesn't actually have anything to do with fetishization. And I don’t know, I just think that it's fun to kind of emulate the adult you wanted to be when you were a kid, and there's a lot of joy in that, and it shouldn’t be something that's sexualized.
Sueah: Yeah, the whole conversation around that was so ridiculous to me. Also historically it was a liberating garment for women, it didn’t even originate being made for babies or children. So like why should I have to feel like I can’t wear something because some freak might think it's inappropriate or fetishize it because they think it's childlike. Like what?
Aria: Yeah, I just feel like we are kind of at this point where all clothing can be seen as sexual or problematic to someone. If a woman were to wear little crop tops and tight jeans they would be sexualized in a similar way to if they were to wear a babydoll top that's not even form fitting. And it's like, at what point do we stop blaming women for just wearing what they want to and start blaming the weird creepy men who are making it a problem?
Sueah: Totally. What’s our next question?
Aria: It’s still pretty related to childhood, haha. In your thesis collection synopsis, you talked a lot about how your thesis collection was super guided by your inner child and how you imagined your adult-self dressing as a child. And so I’m curious to know, how do you feel like that translates into your design work as a whole?
Sueah: Um hold on, I need to, like, think about that for a minute… Hmm, I think when I was talking about my thesis collection, I was talking a lot about nostalgia, but it's more so that I want my clothes to emulate how I felt when I was playing dress up when I was younger. Like the feeling I’d get when I would wear a princess dress for halloween or something—that's kind of the energy that I'm trying to encapsulate. I think I actually just want to be a princess. Recently, I’ve been really drawn to big poofy skirts and tutus that makes me feel like a princess when I wear them, and everyone that’s worn them so far has said that it makes them feel like a princess, so that makes me feel like happy with what I’m doing and what I’m making.
Aria: No, I get that though. I think that a lot of creative inspiration comes from the past, especially in the age we are in, where referentialism and archival fashion are both super big. But I feel like drawing from your own childhood makes it so much more personal and authentic than when people recreate popular or iconic archival looks. Nostalgia offers a much more personal version of that.
Sueah: Yes exactly. You said it way more eloquently.
Aria: Haha. Speaking of your poofy skirts and your thesis collection, you somewhat recently have been posting a lot more TikToks and reels of your thesis collection in-process and behind-the-scenes content. And also just like, more content of your work than I feel like I've seen from you previously.
Sueah: Yes I have. I very recently started like, putting in more effort into social content and trying to post more consistently, and so it's still very new to me, and it's something I’m still trying to figure out my relationship with. I never even thought about having my own ‘brand’, I kind of just thought of my work as more of a passion project.
Aria: I feel like traditionally for most emerging designers, it's like, you make the collection, you do the photo shoot, you post the photos on Instagram or you host a show, and then that's it. But then in the past two or three years, a lot more designers have started essentially vlogging their process on how their collections come to life and putting themselves at the forefront of their content more than, like, just their work.
Sueah: Yeah I think for me, with the filming of my process, it wasn't something I consciously thought about doing for social media content. It was kind of like, I just had to take process photos and videos for school deliverables, and then I just had all this content and I was like, might as well do something with it. So I made a few tiktoks slash reels and the first video I posted, did sort of better than I was expecting. It kind of like, made me feel more inspired to keep going with it and to post more similar content. That's kind of why I started posting more of my process, but I wasn't really thinking like, I'm gonna film to post, it just kind of came naturally.
Aria: And so, I was curious, do you feel like now if you are an emerging designer/creative there is more pressure to post about your work on social media in order to get it seen?
Sueah: I didn't feel like I had to initially. It wasn't something I ever thought about doing before. But since I've started posting more of my work, I've been getting way more opportunities than I would have gotten if I didn’t, so in a way that does make me feel more inclined to post. And also it’s been really rewarding to see that my work is resonating and connecting with people, so I do feel like I want to sort of maintain that relationship with this small community that I’m building. I don't know, does that make sense?
Aria: No, it does. So essentially, are you saying that you don't feel pressure to post, but it's working for you so you may as well keep doing it?
Sueah: Yeah, I don't really feel pressured. I'm just kind of like, doing it for now because it’s fun and new and exciting.
Aria: Yeah. I feel like low-key, I've recently been feeling more and more polarized about self-branding and posting one’s work online. Because on one hand, I see so many creatives who are becoming influencers for posting their work online and getting consistent work from that, but I also see the other side of it where people are getting fired from their fashion internships for posting online or aren’t being taken seriously by the elites of the industry because they are influencers. It just feels like there is a limit to the amount of success you can have as an influencer within the industry because once you brand yourself as an influencer, people only see you as that. So I don't know, I feel like I've always posted, like, my work for the sake of having it be visible. Like somewhere permanent, physical. But at the same time, I definitely feel like whenever I'm applying to a job or trying to connect with other creatives on social media, I have to have something to show on my page in order to make it feel legit.
Sueah: Yeah. I also feel like being in New York, in the fashion scene or the “industry”, your work itself sometimes isn’t enough to speak for itself. Like if you have a presence online or just a lot of followers, you're more likely to be taken seriously, and people definitely treat you differently. Like if your work has “clout”, it's treated like it's more legit and real which kind of sucks.
Aria: Yeah but it's kind of just like, the reality.
Sueah: Yeah. What's your craziest fashion intern story?
Aria: Oh, um, gee. Yeah. Wow. So I was working this internship with this luxury fashion house that's pretty successful. And the team that I was interning for worked in the showroom, but instead of letting the interns work in the showroom, they stuck all of us in a supply closet that was super dimly lit and windowless. And we would work on these benches that had no backrest for like eight hours of the day. What a time, wow.
Sueah: Yeah. That's pretty crazy. I think mine would be when I was working for this pretty big designer, and they made us sign a NDA contract, which is pretty standard for most like jobs I guess, but one of the bullet points was something like, you can't speak unless spoken to. And you absolutely cannot talk to the designer, unless they spoke to you first and you also couldn't talk with the other interns. You can only, like whisper about the work that you were doing, which is kind of crazy. Like, they just wanted us to work like a robot in silence and have no personality. I don't know, it was kind of dehumanizing in my opinion.
Aria: Yeah, I feel like all fashion interns experience something like this. It kind of feels like hazing sometimes because you have to go through that to get a legit job.
Sueah: Yeah. But that really shouldn't be the case. You should be allowed to talk and sit in a real room.
Aria: Who’s a dream celebrity that you would like to work with? And why?
Sueah: I think just like any pop star in general. I've been really loving like Addison Rae, Pink Pantheress, Sabrina Carpenter…just any artist that kind of embodies the experience of being a girl. Also I've been obsessed with Adela, Audrey Hobert, Romy Mars, Mckayla Twiggs - they're on the top of my list.
Aria: I feel like you stole one of mine. Like, I would love to work with Addison Rae. I just love how authentic she is and her creative team is just, like, built of the coolest people ever. Also, another one that's like honestly super random, but I would really love to work with Willem Dafoe.
Sueah: Interesting.
Aria: I think he serves! I have not seen a single campaign that he's done in which he's not like, absolutely serving. And I feel like he's the type of person that, like, you work with, and he just gets the vision. And he seems cool. I want to talk to him. Hmm, I'm trying to think if there's anyone else…Hmm. No, low key, I can't think of anyone else.
Sueah: Okay. And my friends, my friends are celebrities to me.
Aria: Sooooo true! Um... Okay. I think those were all of our interview questions! Yay! I’m really excited that we did this and that you liked the oysters.
Sueah: Yes, definitely! We must do this again soon.
Aria: We must.
