We recently connected with Emma Rubinson and have shared our conversation below.

Emma, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is probably the one I’m in the middle of now. I graduated from fashion school in the spring of 2021, and before now, all of my major projects have been under the guidance of a professor or mentor. Since graduating, I’ve had to learn how to push myself creatively and maintain a timeline for myself, rather than a deadline for a class. It’s been interesting to see how my creative process and inspirations flow with no assignment attached.

The collection I’m working on is, in a nutshell, a dopamine rush and attack on the senses. It centers around the release that following a huge build of tension. For me, it’s a story of personal growth. It traces my relationships over time and what they’ve taught me about myself, my experiences with anxiety and how I’ve learned to ground myself, and the small changes I make in my approach to life that create a ripple effect.

It’s big and it’s deep, but my hope is that my audience can find their own meaning. I find it in small ways every day too – listening to music that builds to a massive bass drop, the moment of finally nailing the choreography in my weekly dance class, or even sitting with a friend over analyzing our lives and having that moment where something just clicks.

I work in the multimedia space, so while my primary focus is on the fashion designs, the environment in which my work is experienced is equally important. I want to bring people into my universe and create a space where they can feel a part of the work by designing the lighting, soundscape, and performance elements. I love to weave together different art forms, and I can’t wait to showcase my first completely independent collection when it’s ready.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

It was never a question for me of what I was going to do with my life. If you had asked me when I was 9 years old, I already knew I wanted to be a designer. When I first started, I was a little kid at summer camp scrapping together materials that I found in the collage bin or the trash in order to create my first garments. In middle school I started taking after school sewing classes, and in high school I started developing my college portfolio at the New England Fashion Design Association (NEFDA) in Norwalk, CT.

I have always been a big dreamer. I wanted my very first sewing project to be a couture wedding gown. I always wanted to have the biggest, most dramatic, pieces with sculptural elements and volume. I live for color and can’t think of a time that I’ve ever used a neutral palette. As I learned more about the industry and myself as an artist. I discovered that I could take my fashion designs beyond the body and create my own universe. I went to my first NYFW event in 2017, 29Rooms by Refinery29, an interactive installation that opened my mind to immersive art. As my grand finale in high school, I hosted my own 3-room interactive installation and the feeling of hosting hundreds of people in a world that I had created for people to connect with one another was euphoric.

Ever since, I have very much rejected “wearable” fashion. A few times I have dipped my toe into the ready to wear world, and every time I end up scrapping everything and returning to my other-worldly sculptures. I feel that I would have to sacrifice too much of the part of the process that I love – the unique textiles, the impossible silhouettes, and the intricate details – in order to sell. As of now, I only make each piece once, and I consider them one of a kind works of art. I want my revenue as a designer to come from hosting events, collaborations, and accessories that are manageable without sacrificing design. My goal is to bring people together, and find a way that everyone can take a piece of the experience home. It’s an abstract idea that manifests in different ways, and I’m still working on what this will mean for my new collection!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

My tagline is “Fashion for the Fearless”, and I hope that my presentations inspire people to express the most authentic version of themselves. The most rewarding aspect, aside from getting professional photos back and feeling like I have a well documented and completed body of work, is when people share with me what my work means to them. When they share the connections they’ve made, and feel the same euphoria trying on one of my pieces or interacting with the environment as I do creating them. The energy in the room is irreplaceable. It’s what keeps me going, and I hope that people are able to take it with them.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

Yes!! I have a lot of opinions on social media as a whole, but primarily I think it is an incredible tool for artists to get their work out into the world. I’ve been content creating for about 3 years now, and I’ve definitely learned a lot in that time. I started (as many did) during the pandemic, and figured that it would be a fun challenge to try and build an audience throughout the year of working on my fashion school thesis. I built up the hype for my collection and had an incredible turnout of my followers at my school’s virtual showcase. I grew most of my audience doing pattern making tutorials, and the more I researched, the more I realized there really was a hole in the internet market for pattern making education. As I worked on my pieces, I shared techniques I was using to turn my designs into reality. It was a great way to provide something valuable to my audience while also sharing my own brand and mission.

Now that I’m out of school, working a full time corporate job, dancing 3 nights a week, AND creating my collections, I’m starting to shift my content to focus more on my work. I’ve really enjoyed creating the tutorials, but in the same way I’m moving away from sellable, ready to wear pieces, I also want to branch out my creativity into less teachable and more experimental techniques. I have an amazing audience that is so supportive and I’m looking forward to sharing more of my work with them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.emmarubinson.com
• Instagram: @emmarubinsonofficial
• Other: TikTok: @emmarubinsonofficial

Image Credits
Patrick Lanham Isabelle Roig Sheridan Young Smaila Mujakic Leah Witheiler Aurora Schantz