We are proud to present our 2011 designers.
Ashley YangI am a Hmong American aspiring designer pursuing the fashion industry. I am a colorfully
vibrant, outgoing, and educated woman who is motivated by the confidence a female carries
when she feels good about herself. My inspirational designer is Vera Wang. Her eclectic style of
feminism is intriguing and elegant. Currently, I am a self taught designer and will be attending
the Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandise in Los Angeles, California in the summer of
2012.
Dokiang ThaoI am a young, creative, ambitious, Hmong-American apparel designer who loves to live everyday as if it was my last. I am obsessed over hello kitty, love dancing, and traveling. I create designs that are a little funkier yet sweet but with a touch of edge. I design what I would love to have in my closet and what makes me happy and when I see others in love with it as much as I am, that’s a priceless feeling and a huge accomplishment for me.
Marlena ThaoMarlena is a self taught designer & seamstress even before going to school to hone her craft. She has been sewing by hand since she was young when her Mom and Grandma taught her how to sew Paj Ntaub. She then learned how to use a sewing machine in the 6th grade for home economics class. It wasn’t until her senior year in high school that she knew she wanted to make it her career. From then on she learned how to work with patterns and is knowledgeable in textiles, while creating many garments since then. She has participated in various fashion shows for school, hair shows, and clubs.
Sai ChangI LOVE fashion. I discovered my interest in fashion when I was in middle school. I loved picking out outfits for friends and family and dressing them up. I used to wake up extra early just so that I could do my brothers’ hair and dress them up before they went to school. Art has always been a passion of mine and I’ve always loved drawing. Anything that involved creativity, I was game. My interest for fashion took a new path when I was in tenth grade; I entered a fashion design contest at UW-Stout and won the grand prize. That was when I decided that I was going to attend UW-Stout for their apparel program, and that’s where it all began.
Kao Lee ThaoPuddle jumping sums up my background properly. I’m continually sucked into one path after another. I started seeing a pattern echoed throughout, people and people’s minds fascinate me. Needless to say I spent half my life studying psychology dreaming to become a psychiatrist and unwrap people from the inside out. Unexpectedly a reoccurring dream urged me to abandon psychology and pursue my childhood passion of Art. After studying people’s desires for so long, to ignore my own would have been foolish. I left the psychology world behind and dove head first into pursuing my art interest.
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