Fashion Design Portfolio
Xiaotong (Alissa) Zhu
Technical Drawing & Individual Projects
Fashion Design Portfolio
Technical Drawing & Individual Projects
Designer Statement
Alissa Zhu is a fashion designer and MFA candidate at FIT in New York.
She designs contemporary womenswear that uses historical research, advanced textile techniques, and precise construction to explore how clothing carries and transforms identity. Her work draws on women's social history and material culture, creating collections where craftsmanship becomes a form of emotional expression.
01 — Studio Practice
A study in fluidity and silhouette. Fluid float panels, draped sashes, and sculptural sleeves are explored across hand illustration, front-and-back flats, and CLO 3D garment simulation: A self-authored narrative built around flow.
02 — Conceptual Collection
Behind Hong Kong's bustling prosperity lie hidden, invisible narrow spaces. Driven by curiosity about the city's housing, my research revealed a stark disparity between rich and poor. Subdivided apartments where residents live in crowded, confined rooms. She simulated those compressed conditions through body experiments, iron-mesh sculpture, woven textiles, and negative-cutting draping.
03 — Conceptual Collection
Inspired by the witch hunts driven by a fear of strong women, the all-female night bomber regiment of WWII the German army called the "Night Witches." These aviators had no uniforms of their own, wearing ill-fitting menswear into battle. The collection investigates the gap between men's uniforms and women's bodies through pattern study, rust-dyeing, aging techniques, and reassembled silhouettes.