Anna Zhou Academy Fashion Alumna and Project Runway Season 19 Contestant Do you have any advice for aspiring Fashion Designers or creatives who look up to you and your success? What advice would you give them? These skills that I practiced in school helped me be on the show and still influenced my current works. My interviewers were impressed with my unique design aesthetic, delicate technical skill, and even my fashion illustration from my audition. It is what I learned from the Academy that made me stand out from thousands of other candidates. Selected design from ORAZ, Anna Zhou’s New York-based fashion label Did what you learned at the Academy help you on Project Runway? There is no shortcut to making success easy. I would say knowledge-based skills and work experience complement one another. It’s been more than a year since I launched my brand. It was an entirely new experience from what I had learned at a Fashion School, and even now, I’m still learning the industry in many different ways. However, I wasn’t fully prepared for running a business right after graduation. My passion for the field was the biggest motivation that made me fearless about the upcoming challenges. I’d been expecting this for a long time, and I felt ready and confident to apply what I had learned from school to ORAZ. Starting my own brand was the most exciting thing after graduation. What was it like starting your own brand (ORAZ) after graduation? The skills that I learned from the Academy allowed me to enhance my work to a more sophisticated standard. After I graduated, I established my brand based on my design DNA. Moreover, during that year, I discovered my design aesthetic, which brought me the confidence to be a Fashion Designer. I was able to use the most delicate techniques to accomplish my elaborate designs. During my senior year, I was focused on couture-oriented Fashion Design. The Academy taught me the best fashion knowledge and technical skills. Anna Zhou, School of Fashion Alumna and Project Runway Season 19 Contestant Design from Anna Zhou’s Academy of Art Spring Show Collection How have you applied the skills you learned at the Academy in your career? I truly believe the design education I had at the Academy plays an important role in my achievements after graduation. I feel grateful I met Gary in my fashion education. He also gave me enough space to expand my ideas and create in my own way. Gary Miller was my favorite teacher who discovered my possibility and pushed me further in my creativity based on who I am. This class changed my design perspective, allowed me to think boldly, and influenced my future works. Prior to the class, I couldn’t fully comprehend the creative process, and I struggled with finding the right track. I took the “Design Concept” class in my second year. My Professor and Director, Gary Miller, and his class “Design Concept” impacted me the most during my design studies. Was there a particular class or professor that had an important impact on you? Although some of the design courses were very challenging, I had the opportunities to sharpen my skills through the process and thrive. It covers many important perspectives of Fashion Design, and helped me build an understanding of Fashion Design in a very systematic way. The curriculum of the Fashion Design major at the Academy is well made. How did your time at the Academy prepare you or influence your experiences and success after graduation? We sat down with Anna Zhou to talk about her time at the Academy, and how her years at art school have influenced her success in the fashion industry. Selected design from ORAZ, Anna Zhou’s New York-based fashion label
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