Eva Phan

There’s something nostalgic about looking back at a piece of clothing you wore when you felt truly beautiful, and that’s the exact feeling I am to design for. Since first putting my foot down on my first sewing machine pedal at the age of five, I've been enamored with a world of designing, creating, and most importantly, experimenting.

In 2017,I found myself in a balancing act between past and present while leaving Minnesota and pivoting to Parsons School of Design in New York. Growing up Vietnamese-American, it wasn’t the first time I found myself stuck between two opposing worlds.

Now graduating in 2021, my thesis collection, “In the Mắt of Người Xem” (a blend of confused Vietnamese and English playing on “in the eye of the beholder") has led me not only to a collection, but down a path of self discovery, reflection of my own upbringing, and at times, emotionally difficult family history. In doing so, the practice of creation became a method of therapy for emotional scars and bruises of the past. Through this collection, I explore the mixed race identity confusion through my Vietnamese-American lens during a time of increased hate towards AAPI individuals, the emotional scarring and bruises that come as a result, and how perception has the power to shift seeming conflict and emotional distress into harmony.

Please reach out at eva@eva-darling.com or on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/eva_phan