midterm journey

Yesterday was our midterm review/presentations in my class. It went well, I think. I am now midway through the construction process of my thesis collection. I have 17 garments, I now have 9 more or less completed.

Yesterday my mom drove me to school! Thanks to my making a fall collection, my garments MUST be packed into a huger than huge oversize suitcase for midterm. I could live in it. My mom felt bad I guess and offered to drive me instead of me attempting to lug it on and off NJ Transit.

Yes, I am living at home again to accompany my mom. It is not too bad, beside the fact that I lose an hour of sleep for the commute. My alarm goes off at 5 45am instead of 7 or 7 30, like when it did when I lived in the city. I either nap or sketch/sew/read/write/organize my life during the 40-50 minute ride. When I think about it, I can't believe I am commuting(I'm not a morning person). I used to live in New York my first two years at school, then it only took a couple of minutes to get to class. Now I travel about an hour and a half door-to-door. I'm not complaining, it is usually an interesting journey...

this is me, signing on

My name is Melissa Lüning. I grew up in New Jersey, but my family is from Sweden. I speak Swedish at home and with my family. My culture has influenced a lot of my work and how I view things. I try to travel there once a year when I can to visit family. I am very inspired in the way the people there live, dress, and communicate with one another. It is a very calming place to be, especially surrounded by untouched forests, clean air, and the country’s beautiful history.

My father was very important to me. He passed away about a year and a half ago. He was very appreciative of where he came from. He was very close to nature and the traditions and stories of his family. For my senior thesis collection, and in essence the way I approach design, is very much inspired by my father’s outlook on life. I am very inspired by nature, the way people interact with it and each other, and also the feeling that a woman should feel when wearing a garment.

For my thesis, I was inspired by the book The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. It is a very fascinating study of what may happen to our built structures if our population suddenly disappeared. It is not a morbid story, simply one about nature taking over our structures and becoming again what it once was before our consumption of it. It has truly changed the way I look at life and what we live in. Imagine a New York with collapsed bridges, trees bursting through the roofs of buildings, and animals and vegetation taking over our streets.

I am only using sustainable fabrics and trims for my collection. At this point, I wish that there were more fabrics available to us as students, but I am only using natural fibers, organic when possible. I think that this is extremely important in today’s world. You cannot be selfish anymore. Everything you consume will affect someone or something else in the world.