Sara Lopez (BS ’12, Apparel Design) wants you to stop and think about your clothing. Profiled in outlets like Vogue, Elle, and W Magazine, Lopez's work considers clothing's purpose in society and what its modern use says about our world. Her label, A--Company, deconstructs one piece of clothing at a time through the lens of critical theory and queer studies to create something entirely new. In this interview, Lopez talks about the experiences that shaped her work, her design approach, and shares advice for current design students.
How would you describe your label, A--Company, for those who are unfamiliar with it?
A--Company is a new form of luxury clothing and accessories that deconstructs modern dress from an intellectual and analytical approach. We’re curious about the body’s relationship to space, researching critical theory, queer studies, and everyday gestures to study clothing’s purpose in society. Overlapping the lines between classic tailoring and conceptualism, we architect highly crafted clothes for the unconventionally minded, producing in NYC in limited quantities of 144 pieces.
You spent some time working at Rachel Antonoff before launching your own label. How did that experience inform the launch of your own business?
I gained invaluable knowledge working for Rachel. I had the opportunity to develop my technical design skills and learn the inner workings of a small fashion business. I also became aware of the challenges that small fashion businesses face and sought to find solutions, or structure a business slightly differently than the industry has typically mandated. We’re always reassessing things at A--Company by looking at our internal needs and watching what’s happening in the market and committed to always finding better answers to the questions we have.
Each of your collections is based on a single piece of clothing. How did this become part of your process and how do you decide on what piece of clothing to focus on?
I’m interested in limitations as a source of creativity and the histories and stories embedded in the common objects around us. I also find importance in trying to understand the modern wardrobe—what does it have to tell us, what does it say about us?
I started with the trench coat, an item that represents early innovation of material, and the beginning of mass production in clothing, and then began working my way inside the ensemble to the suit, the shirt, and then moved to the dress exploring femininity. Now I usually choose my next item either in relation to the one before or if there’s a specific technique or category I’m wanting to introduce into the A--Company language.
What do you want people to experience when they see your collections?
My biggest aim is that they might see themselves. And that there is some pause and inquiry into the themes of the collection and what’s trying to be told beyond the clothing.
How did your experiences in the Apparel Design Program shape your career path?
I graduated with many tangible skills and appreciated the amount of freedom given for our senior thesis projects, but I think I benefited the most from the U’s encouragement of interdisciplinary studies and collaborations. I still collaborate with an artist who I met while at the U.
What advice do you have for current design students?
Learn everything, be friends with other curious people, experiment without reservation and collaborate widely with all departments.
Images courtesy of A--Company.
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