2025 Designer Profile: Evelynn Garcia-Ocon's
“I like making stuff in general, I collect a lot of stuff. I've worked through a lot of mediums,” says Evelynn Garcia-Ocon, a sophomore majoring in English and Religious Studies. “I've made jewelry, I'm working with wire, I’ve crocheted, I've knitted, I've done embroidery – I've just always been really drawn to creating.”
Evelynn has not been able to stop herself from creating art out of anything she could get her hands on. She fondly recalls one of her first sewing projects: “It was this super long quilt thing. I don't know if you could call it a quilt, cause it was just really vertical. I made it using scraps of fabric that I put back together.”
This creative drive, she explains, comes from her mom’s side of the family where sewing is a shared talent. Her aunt gave her “a ton of yarn”, and her mom let her use her sewing machine from a very young age. Evelynn explains how working on the MODA show pushed her to explore the versatility of that machine: “I had it and it was on a setting and I had never changed that setting up until now. I've experimented with different stitches and stuff. I was reading the book it came with and I was like, damn there a lot of things you could do. It can sew a button! Like, what?”
““I like throwing everything together, not necessarily just sewing””
Evelynn is very passionate about the use of mixed media. This is apparent throughout all three of her looks for this year’s show. She describes the first look as “Mother Earth with a parasitic flower on it. It tells a story. It’s dramatic, first of all, and I just think it’s fun. Not all of my designs are story-driven, but that one definitely is. I think when it all comes together, you’ll be able to tell what is going on”. She plans on molding the flower (based on the Rafflesia arnoldii) out of foam, giving it a cartoony aesthetic. Juxtaposing this, the model will be draped in a simple loose folded gown reminiscent of ancient Greek attire. The second look resembles a humanoid rose, with large petals sprouting from the neckline and extending upwards, framing the model’s head. Finally, her third look is inspired by the Orchid Praying Mantis, creating an otherworldly silhouette. The design features body-hugging elements contrasted by large voluminous arm and leg warmers looking structures.
One thing all three of these concepts have in common, is they all incorporate some sort of mask. Evelynn describes the emotions she aims to invoke in the audience: “I’m trying to create this ethereal vibe. Not necessarily human, and not alien, but something else, like a third category. One idea I had throughout my design process was how you always look at people’s eyes when you first see them. There’s a whole expression about eyes being the window to the soul. So what happens when you take that away?” Though she finds it difficult to pinpoint an exact name for this feeling, she is pursuing a look that is both beautiful and off putting, intriguing yet uneasy, inviting each viewer to question and connect in their own way.
Experiment with stuff!
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Experiment with stuff! ★
A standout piece is a stunning mask she crafted from cardboard and paper mache, designed to resemble an orchid. Originally aiming for a more surreal look for the mask, she soon realized that it didn’t match her overall vision for the outfit. She scrapped the initial concept, and started fresh. One of the biggest challenges she encountered was balancing aesthetics with functionality: “The problem was the model needed to see out of the mask, but also it has to look good enough where you can’t really tell she could see through it. I ended up using sunglass lenses with a kind of meshy material layered over them. I used the base of the sunglasses to help it stay on her face, and when it all came together, I was like, ‘Woah.’” For Evelynn, the problem solving aspect of creation is the most exciting part of the design process: “The way I work, I don’t follow a strict plan. I’ll break things up by weeks, like, this week I’ll focus on this outfit, or this specific part of the design, but it’s not set in stone. Everything changes as I go, and I love working through challenges and figuring things out along the way. That’s my favorite part of the whole process.”
Even after spending her entire winter break constructing this mask from nothing, her inner perfectionist wasn’t satisfied. Still, she learned to focus on the bigger picture: “It looks good from afar, and I have to remind myself that no one is going to be zooming in on the runway. I always have to step back and remind myself that it's okay if something is slightly off, it won't be noticeable from far away. I’m really happy with how it turned out in the end. There were definitely phases where it didn’t look great, but seeing the finished result I’m happy.”
This mindset compliments her eclectic approach to design: “Typically, I like to start with a concept that I like and go from there. I use a blank model template and play around with colors I think would look good together. It's not like I'm dealing with fabrics right away, so I just use colors. And then I sketch out the general shapes, cause the silhouette is important, and I will refine from there. At this stage, I look at where the weight is being held, and make sure to balance the look out, although I will say I do change a lot as I continue to work.” Going with ideas and figuring things out along the way is a hallmark of Evelynn’s approach. She admits: “I don’t really use patterns because, honestly, they take a long time to put together, and they don’t always fall the same way fabric does. When I’m making something, I prefer to work directly with the person I’m creating for. If it’s for myself, I’m constantly trying it on or putting it on my mannequin to see how it looks. Patterns are fine, but in my experience, they don’t always work out as expected. I’d rather freestyle.”
Her process is very iterative, a quality made possible by the flexibility of both her mindset and approach to design. However, this adaptability also brings its challenges, especially as this is Evelynn’s first time making clothes for people other than herself: “It’s interesting because I’ve never really sewn clothes for other people before, especially people I don’t know that well. My models are all very nice, and I love them, but I don’t know them super well, so it’s definitely a new experience. I end up going through cycles of being like ‘Oh my God, this is great, I love this’ and then being like ‘I actually hate this’. But this is part of what keeps me going! The thought of seeing the finished product. I just really want to see how it all comes together in the end.”
Evelynn hopes more people will embrace this eclectic and experimental approach to art and design. Her advice?:
““Experiment with stuff, just experiment! I love mixed media, and more people should try it in general. Everyone likes something, so, you know, just go crazy!””
