Asa Hemenway
Asa Hemenway is a senior Apparel Design and Merchandising major at UNL. His goal is to make fashion more gender-fluid and less sexist. Asa enjoys mixing thrifted items with high-end brands and describes his style as "modern '70s."
Q: Why did you decide to pursue a fashion-related major?
A: I'm from the East Coast and clothes are really big and fashion is really big, especially in the hub of New York and I went to New York a lot when I was younger. It's really close to DC so I love going and walking around there. And then eventually I just got really caught on to how everyone was styled very different. Everyone's wearing very different things and all the windows were very elaborate and extremely well put together. I got curious and then eventually I got really into it, and now I can't stop doing it.
Q: What do you plan to do for a career relating to fashion?
A: I would hope to do some small brand design. That would probably be my favorite thing. In a bigger city. So working on a smaller team. [I'd] probably end up starting at an assistant designer job. But also, going overseas to grad school is an option as well. And trying to find jobs there and use connections and work overseas at a different brand.
"I try to dress really gender-fluid so I use a lot of female silhouettes that fit a more, like, man body. So it's a lot of high waisted, wide-legged."
Q: How would you describe your personal style?
A: It's a little bit weird. I try to dress really gender-fluid so I use a lot of female silhouettes that fit a more, like, man body. So it's a lot of high-waisted, wide-legged. I wear a lot of things that are cropped. I like my shirts to be very short and small when my pants are just massive and very balloony and large.
Q: Would you say the way you dress is the same as the clothes you would like to design?
A: I would. I try to wear a lot of sustainable, reused goods. I try to thrift a lot. So I really liked the idea of sustainable design, and kind of killing the waste that textile is producing each year. At the same time, I also like designing very feminine silhouettes because I think that masculine clothing is very boring, and I think that clothes could move toward a more gender-fluid, less sexist base.
Q: Who is your biggest fashion inspiration?
A: So there's a couple. My biggest one at the moment--Issie Miyake is really cool. Kirby John Raymond is a very upcoming fashion designer. But I'd say my biggest one of all time is probably going to be a designer that's starting out, kind of. He's getting pretty big right now. His name is Colm Dillane. He does a brand kit called KidSuper, and he actually started out just selling tee-shirts in his dorm room in New York. He was a soccer player and should have been nowhere near a designer, and just kind of figured it out as he went. He just won an LVMH Prize award actually, which is like a massive fashion award for upcoming designers.
Q: What other concepts do you draw inspiration from?
A: I would say a lot of higher fashion as opposed to the Nikes and Adidas and things like that. But more specifically, European. I've really been into a lot of Russian, and more Eastern Block designers. They seem to do a lot of more creative things. A lot of culture is involved in their work as well. And it is very much what I'm into, which is femine wear that you can see popping up around the place.
Q: How would you describe fashion at UNL?
A: UNL fashion is interesting. I see a lot more creative sides than a lot of other people. It's very unique. It's not as brand heavy as a lot of other places because people don't see the brands. There's nowhere to really buy them here. So it's a lot of people with thrifts. A lot of people do a lot of DIY, which is really cool. And so I see a lot of people with kind of unique outfit styles that you wouldn't normally see together because of what's available to them and them trying to get very creative with their own ideas.
Shop Asa's Look
