An Interview with Fashion Designer & Illustrator Kitty Wong
Just after London Fashion Week in February, I was browsing Twitter catching up with the latest gossip and features on the LFW shows and I came across some fabulous illustrations from Kitty Wong. I was really intrigued about her thoughts on fashion week and how she draws what she sees at the shows. So I got in touch, set up an interview and here are the results. You can check out her blog here.
An Interview with Fashion Designer & Illustrator Kitty Wong
Growing up I always always wanted to be a fashion designer, I’ve been taking art lessons since I was a little kid, it was the only thing I would ever sit still for. I would draw and doodle everywhere. When my family and I first emigrated to Canada, I didn’t speak any English and I would make friends by drawing my classmates pictures. Recently I had an old elementary school friend who told me she still has the bunny I drew for her in third grade.
The Eudon Choi drawing that first made me aware of Kitty’s work
2) What encouraged you to get into this industry and what was your route into it?
I went to university for fashion design and I always thought that was what I would do. After graduating I worked as assistant designer but I struggled for a long time because making clothes never really felt natural to me. Eventually I began to focus more on drawing and I started to post my work online and got some good feedback and some commissions through my blog and through meeting people in my city. It just felt like a natural progression and I enjoy it so much, I’m happiest when I’m home drawing and painting.
3) What is a typical working day for you?
I’ve been trying really hard to keep a routine this year so I’m really excited you asked this question. I wake up, eat breakfast (usually oatmeal) while doing some online grazing. Depending on the week, I’ll work on whatever freelance illustration projects I have at the moment and if not, I’ll do personal projects like the Drawing Fashion Week series or I’ll blog. Then I eat lunch and go for a walk if I’m feeling virtuous. And then it’s back to the drawing board with lots of snacks, Pinterest and social media breaks in-between.
4) How would you describe what you do in one sentence?
I make drawings of pretty girls.
5) What do you love the most about combining illustration with fashion design and blogging and being in the fashion industry?
I love the blogging community, it’s so wonderful to get comments and feedback on my work and to “meet” people both virtually and in real life who are interested in the same things. I love illustrating because it combines the best parts of fashion, the creativity and the beautiful clothes but without the painstaking process of drafting and sewing it.
6) Where are you based, how much of an inspiration is your city and what are your favourite cities around the world?
I am based in Hong Kong. It’s an incredibly busy and high paced city, every city has an energy and this one’s is a relentless drive to improve itself. Everyone here is always doing a course, working on a project or on their way to studying or working abroad. I’m really inspired by that energy but I’m also still adjusting to it, I was born in Hong Kong but I grew up in Canada and it is much more laid-back there.
City-wise, I love Paris, for all the obvious reasons, I spent a summer there doing an internship at a menswear clothing company, I miss the museums and the baked goods the most. And I also love Toronto, it’s hard not to love the city you went to university in, all my friends are there and there are lots of wonderful young creative people living there.
7) Where would you like your blog to take you?
I would really like to use it as a platform to connect with other creative minds and to share knowledge. In addition, I want it to be an aesthetic space for people to find me online and for people to get a behind the scenes look at my illustration process.
8) Have you seen the fashion industry or change in the last few years, have you had to adapt?
I guess this is only my second year really working in the “fashion industry”. But I would have to say blogging has changed so much in the last few years, it’s incredible how popular bloggers and blogging has become and also how professional it’s become, everyone has such slick website design these days and gorgeous magazine style images. It’s gotten less personal and more professional. I’ve had to adapt by creating more original content to differentiate myself, I think that’s when I started doing more illustrations instead of reblogging and curating.
9) How do you combine what you see at fashion weeks around the world into an illustration? What elements do you pick out from the fashion world around you?
I don’t usually attend fashion weeks in person but I gather all the images I need for inspiration online. It’s mind blowing how fast the information is relayed these days from the runway with live broadcasts and then hi-res images becoming available within a few hours. I feel like the internet is my fashion world. When I’m out on the street in my own city I’m inspired by other people’s faces and movements. I’m obsessed with looking at people’s faces and how they move their bodies, I love drawing them down in my sketchbook if I get a chance. I see so much beauty in people’s faces.
10) What is next for Kitty Wong? What are your goals for 2013?
I want to learn coding this year! So I can step up my website and blog design. And also work on getting more creative, exciting projects and more clients for 2013.
I just finished a series of sexy lookbook illustrations for HK based clothing label Tangram for their lingerie line launch which I’m really excited about, so look out for that!
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