My name is Luathsee Xiong, I am 23 years old and I am Hmong American. I graduated from Appalachian State University in North Carolina with my Bachelors of Science in Apparel Design and Merchandising, along with a minor in Marketing. During my design journey I have had a variety of experiences with modeling, styling, and have won some design challenges through the times.

I became a fashion designer because as growing up I would always watch my step grandma work on our Traditional Hmong Clothes. I would always sit with her and help her count beads to strung onto the clothes. I was always fond of our Hmong clothes as it carries our rich stories and values throughout our Hmong history. Hmong clothes were what made me fall in love with clothes, which eventually made me want to pursue my career as a fashion designer.

LLX Creations is a company where in the future I would like to see designs of fresh new looks hitting the runways as always being original and the start of a fashion trend. As of now my company is a start- up and working in progress. I am hoping in the future to launch my own design line and a company of my own.

Design is a word that means to be different. When designing, I always want to be thinking out of the box, not what is trending or what someone else likes. Design is what you want to showcase into the world to make it the “iconic” look.

My favorite kind of design is making dresses. I think whenever making this particular garment, you have endless ways of constructing your designs and larger opportunities of expressing yourself. In addition, you have choices of either making a simple dress or to an elegant luxurious dress.

A good design is something that is never seen before. When designing you are wanting to showcase what is the next big thing that has never been done before. The concept of a “good” design is also the backstory of the design. Every design has its own special characteristic to it making it a design of its own and just not an inspiration that is bounced off from another project. A “good” design is something personal and something that is special to you.

I feel like my design style is more of an abstract and organic structure. I feel like I am more drawn to the creative side of the process, where I like to think of the unthinkable. Being the designer who designs “weird” items to make something that has never been done before.

In the process of designing, I like to think of my main objective of inspiration or even a specific garment to help me start off. When singling out an idea it helps me identify what I am looking for and what I want the outcome to be. This helps me eliminate all other ideas, so that I am not all over the place and combining too many ideas into one project, as I tend to do all the times.

Specifically, as to my country's culture no. I do not think that this has an impact on my designs as I think that my country does not have anything specific that it looks for, instead it accepts all differently unique designs that are showcased and embraces them. This allows us as designers to freely design our concepts and really showcase what we want to show to the world.

To receive this award means so much to me. This means that I have potential in the design industry and it just means that I just need to keep pushing myself and my company to become better and bigger, to meet our fullest potential. I think that this is a huge step into the design world for me and especially my company as LLX Creations is a startup and hopes to become an even bigger company in the future.

The collection that I submitted into the design award was a collection of six individual jackets. The jacket has functions that can be worn multiple ways from interchangeable side to be swapped with another set from the collection, to a total of 36 interchangeable different combination styles that can be worn. This collection was submitted into the sustainable category, therefore hence the work of art, of a sustainable garment that can be reused, with a sense of style fashion each time, with a fresh, playful and unique look. As the title of the collection is called “ Exchange for Life” for a longer lifespan. I chose to enter this project into the award, because I wanted to submit something new and fresh with a unique twist to it. Hopefully to bring attention and open up ideas on how innovated we can be.

The biggest obstacle in this challenge was not having a proper sewing machine. Using the materials that I had to use was really difficult for me to get around because my sewing machine was not strong enough to meet its fullest potential for my collection.

Winning this award will only make me want to work harder to meet my dream goals as a designer. With this award it will definitely help push me towards the success that I want in the future with my company and as a designer.

My top favorite things about the fashion industry is that there are no rules, you are your own creator, and we are the leaders that lead us to the future. I feel like we are the icon that makes trends become a trend. I think that as designers we are the future of the future, because we are the ones constantly creating new ideas and new innovations.

I feel like my country's design is uniquely designed for comfort and simplicity. I think that my country concentrates on what is best fit for the body, then how can we push our body to its full extent or how can we be different.

I think that in the years to come, I think that designs will come to a huge turn around. I feel like the development of technology will really change the structures and design concepts of thinking beyond what has not been done. I feel like there will definitely be a turnaround of sustainability use that will come into factor and play in the design industry.

I would say that I am a student who submitted an entry in this design award. I think that for future students, they should definitely enter into the award because this will help give you credentials and even a greater exposure of yourself into furthering your career path. I think that this will keep you one step ahead into the design world as this organization is globally known. As for me I feel like I am still trying to catch up to others, so you would also be one step ahead of me.

Resources that I would recommend to others to improve your skills are your friends and family. I think that friends and family are your honest peers who will make a judgment on what they see that are flaws and as consumers of themself to see if they buy your product or not. This will help you improve in your designs as you would get honest feedback that will help improve your product by changing or thinking about their feedback on solutions to improve the quality of the product.

I would say that I am very bad at the English language. It is something that I have always struggled with my whole life growing up and until now.

Someone who has inspired me was my big cousin. She was the first ever to buy me fabric and was always interested in my art work and pushing me to create.

I feel like there really is no key to success. I think that everyone's success comes at different levels. If it is your true passion and you are happy and satisfied to your level, then that is your success. I think that you set your own level of expectation that will lead you to success, in other words you are your success. My word of wisdom is chase your dreams, you are living your life, other people are not living it for you, so keep on dreaming and dream big.

I would like to add that I am extremely thankful for this organization, having this award for designers all over the world to help showcase our collections. I think that as a designer myself, it is extremely hard to get noticed and so competitive in the world that It really makes it hard on designers to be motivated. I am so thankful that I was one of many others great designers who got awarded and hopefully in the future for other designers to keep working on themselves and improving. To keep pushing yourself because we as designers need to support each other and motivate one another to have more creativity in life. Even if you fail, just keep pushing yourself and don't give up because this is our passion and our life.