Miranda Watson, a senior fashion design major, grew up in an “artsy” household — her mother has been an active painter for 40 years and her father owns a landscape design business. Watson has cultivated a love of art through her interest in fashion design and has since studied in London through Syracuse University Abroad. The Daily Orange spoke with Watson about her fashion inspiration and her senior collection.

The Daily Orange: How would you describe your personal style?

Miranda Watson: I guess I’d describe it as pretty casual. I really like the trend of menswear as womenswear, like looser clothing and not too much color, and just pretty comfortable skinny jeans and T-shirts. Nothing too outrageous.

The D.O.: How does your personal style differ from your style as a designer?

M.W.: I definitely find myself differentiating some things that I design. For my senior collection, I definitely want to kind of bring it back to neutral colors like blacks, whites and grays, which I definitely find myself doing a lot in my design.

The D.O.: When did your interest in fashion begin?

M.W.: Definitely in middle school, maybe eighth grade, ninth grade. That’s when I started getting into it. As for my interest in fashion — I mean — I love clothes. I really love the artistic aspects of it and how it’s really an art form. It’s how you see people every day wearing their clothes, but it’s like, ‘Why are they wearing it? What story are they trying to tell through clothes?’ That’s what I love about it — that it really tells a story.

The D.O.: What’s the fashion scene in London like?

M.W.: I think London is such a different experience from America, and it’s so much more experimental and a lot more colors and wacky kinds of styles. Learning about how they dress and seeing people in that environment versus just online was really awesome.

The D.O.: What was your favorite piece of clothing that you’ve designed?

M.W.: Last year for our junior show, we had cocktail dress-inspired project. We had to make a little black dress — an interpretation of that. I made this shift dress, but it was all different patches of leather. It was a pretty simple dress, but it was beautiful and really fun to make with all the patchwork and fabric, so I loved that.

The D.O.: Who is your favorite designer?

M.W.: My favorite is (Issey) Miyake. He’s a Japanese fashion designer who’s been around for years, but he’s very experimental and uses a lot of technology and has even created his own technology. He takes pleats and uses them in such interesting ways to make shapes, but when you put them on, it transforms you. It’s just so innovative and different, and he’s able to sustain a brand while having so many ideas behind it, which I definitely admire.

The D.O.: What are you planning for your senior collection?

M.W.: For my senior collection, I wanted to focus on mental disorders, such as depression. Just about how well these things physically affect the brain and what differentiates “normal people” from these people we categorize as having mental illnesses. I used to get really bad headaches, and I was going to use one of those brain scans as a print to show what makes a person “crazy,” I guess.

The D.O.: How were you inspired by these mental illnesses?

M.W.: It really started with reading this book, “The Wisdom of Psychopaths.” My friends had recommended it to me, and I found it so fascinating. These kinds of disorders are still kind of taboo, and people don’t really talk about them. And I kind of wanted to bring them into the forefront and expose them through clothing.

Published on November 19, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu