Abby Silaen takes us along for a day in her life

Written by Jaqueline Kim, Photographs by Jaqueline Kim

Ever since lifestyle blogs began to pop up on Youtube in 2012, people with different professions and interests began using a range of mediums to share their daily lives. I decided to do something similar and tag along with Abby Silaen, a third-year accessory design and fashion student, to document a day in her life. This quarter, Silaen is taking ACCE 205 Introduction to Fashion Accessory Design and FASH 219 Introduction to Fashion Sketching. While documenting her day, I got to join her in going around campus and running errands for her projects.

Silaen and I met at 11 a.m. to go to our first stop, The Salvation Army, so she could buy a pair of shoes to draw and deconstruct for her accessory design class. Her goal was to find a complicated design to learn more about the construction of different parts of a shoe. Once we were done, we walked over to one of SCAD’s dining halls, Boathouse, to grab lunch before heading over to the SCAD Museum of Art. Our lunch included a tofu scramble for Silaen and a sundried tomato pesto paste for myself. As a gal on the go, Silaen continued working on part of her accessory design project while waiting for her food. The brief was to design a collection inspired by an artist who has their work exhibited in the SCAD Museum of Art.

Around 1 p.m., we took the bus to the SCAD MOA that is currently featuring works by Emily Furr, Carlos Garaicoa, The Haas Brothers, Helen Frankenthaler, Marcel Dzama, Rose B. Simpson, Paulina Olowska, Kate Cooper, Sanford Biggers and Christto and Andrew. Since Silaen chose Marcel Dzama’s work as her inspiration, we stayed longer in their exhibit observing the work. One of the things Silaen liked the most was his illustration style and the juxtaposition between his vision and drawings.

“Through examining Dzama’s work, I hope to be able to experiment in bringing illustration to my accessory design,” Silaen said.

After wrapping up at the SCAD MOA, we walked to Ex Libris so Silaen could purchase the supplies she needed to begin her project. She decided on using one of the most common illustration mediums: watercolors. Along with that, she also purchased masking fluid and ink for her fashion sketching class. After her shopping was completed, it was time for a break. We went to Ice Bing on MLK Jr. Boulevard for some boba tea which was, to us, without a doubt the best in Savannah.

By then, the day was coming to an end, but we decided to meet up again later that night to work together. It had been such a productive day, we thought we’d keep the momentum and motivation going.

Meeting up around 10 p.m., Silaen and I decided to work together in the Montgomery Hall common area. She worked on her required ten fashion sketches using watercolor and gouache. Her focus was truly hypnotizing and interesting to witness. She had a keen eye for detail, being careful to show the texture of the fabric and how it folded and pleated in the garments.

Our productive streak continued into the late hours of the night until we got all the work we planned to get done.