Get to Know: Eduardo Calvo
By Jaquelin Gasc
Name: Eduardo Calvo
Major: Fashion Design
Year: Fourth-Year
Hometown: Madrid, Spain
District: When did you decide you wanted to pursue a career in fashion?
Eduardo Calvo: It’s funny, because it’s definitely something that didn’t cross my mind until late senior year of high school. I have always been an artist, but never did I believe it would take the twist that it did.
District: What was your inspiration behind your collection?
Calvo: I have always been inspired by contemporary art and the way it makes the audience constantly redefine beauty.
District: What was the most challenging aspect of the senior collection process?
Calvo: It’s one thing to draw and conceptualize a design, and it’s another aspect to make it a reality; taking it from a two-dimensional idea to a three-dimensional reality. Along the way you start hitting major roadblocks and have to think critically in order to overcome them or find an agreeable alternative. As a rule of thumb, a design will never end up like the initial sketch. It’s thus important to take this into consideration throughout the design process.
District: What are your future plans after graduating?
Calvo: Ideally, I would love to return to Europe and work for a design firm there. But given that the economy is tough and competition fierce, most likely I’ll end up landing a job in New York for starters.
District: Do you have any advice for future seniors when starting their senior collection?
Calvo: Too many to fit in this page! Be knowledgeable of the world around you (yes, especially the world of fashion). Far too often design students don’t educate themselves in what has been done, who did it, who wore it, etc., and end up designing mundane creations that the world has seen too many times before. They have to understand that fashion is NOT 1) prom dresses on steroids or 2) Richard Serra’s installation, but an ever-changing experimentation of silhouettes, colors, textures, materials and more that, altogether, form a visually pleasing look. The more you know, the better you’ll design!
District: Are there any aspects of your collection you wish you could change?
Calvo: Absolutely, I don’t think a designer ever looks at his completed collection and thinks it’s everything he ever hoped for. Time is short, and the amount of things you want to add to your designs to make them perfect is endless. In my case, perhaps more detail and an impeccable fit and drape would have been things I would have worked on if I had more time on my hands.
District: Who has been the most influential person when developing your collection?
Calvo: None of a name. When I idealize my collection, I think of the perfect customer, a mélange of different characteristics and traits; the ideal girl as opposed to an existing woman.
District: How do you categorize your design aesthetic?
Calvo: I design ready-to-wear separates with an extreme contemporary edge.
District: Who would be your dream designer to work alongside?
Calvo: Nicholas Ghesquière for Balenciaga.
District: From your peers, whose collection is your favorite?
Calvo: Hands down, Derek Clarkson. It fascinates me the way he engineers clothes with the same ease he breathes air. Hopefully I can someday afford a pair of trousers of his.
