B Y N A TA LIE Z EE
Fashion designer Diana Eng, self-proclaimed Her fashion desig ns show the beauty in fashion nerd, says “I’m trying to make fashion the technicalities of math and science. and technology something people can relate Her signature showcase piece, the to in their lives.” She graced the nation’s TV waves Inflatable Dress , was created in earlier this year as a contestant on Bravo’s Project school with her classmate and now Runway. “Part of the challenge is that I’m just curious. business partner/co-designer, I feel like it can definitely be done, but I want to Emily Albinski. The concept for know if it can be done.” the project was to explore how Diana Eng is our kind of fashion designer. She design changes through shape loves science magazines and comic books. She’s a and color. techno-geek at heart who codes her own HTML on The dress’ center is a her blog ( dianaeng.com) because she likes having modified hand vacuum con-design control over the layout and images. She nected with tubing to help loves to experiment and figure out how things work. inflate the dress. Varying It is with that curious spirit that Eng, who graduated the amount of air from from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the vacuum changes the apparel design two summers ago, may be our new silh ouette of the dress. hope for technology’s future in fashion. The idea is simple: “You It’s no surprise that Eng’s equal love of fashion and might be at prom and you technology goes all the way back to her childhood want to be the only person roots in Jacksonville, Fla. There, with her computer with your dress. So, if your scientist father and architect mother, Eng and her dress changes shape, you will younger brother (now an MIT student) would frequent always be the only person with art shows and museums, especially works by artist your dress,” Eng concludes with a Richard Meyer. “We always had design books around,” girlish laugh. she remembers. Her next piece, the Heartbeat In the science world, her mentor was her grand- Hoodie, takes technology a bit further. mother, a math and computer science teacher, who It’s a stylishly designed hooded vest would take Eng as a young girl to math conferences jacket complete with camera and heart and who introduced her to research on spirolaterals. monitor. The concept explores the idea By the time she reached her teens, Eng was of involuntarily documenting parts of already a guest lecturer at the Florida Council one’s life at moments of interest or of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference, speaking on the benefits of using visual aids, such Diana Eng is our kind of designer. She loves science as origami or spirolaterals, while teaching math. mags, comic books, and codes all her own HTML.
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