Fashion, Design and Finding a Voice
Black on black on black. Today her outfit is reminiscent of the casual 2016 version of Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress, with the addition of leopard flats, a 20-year-old vintage denim jacket and blunt bangs that whisper across the rims of — you guessed it — BLACK sunglasses. She crossed her legs, black loose-fit trousers tightening around thighs which still showed signs of her middle school track-running days. Lifting her opaque glasses to reveal sky-blue eyes perfectly framed by sandy brown strands of pin-straight hair, student designer and architect Megan Laughlin began her thoughtful description of her style.
“Minimalism, repetition and architectural details,” Laughlin did not falter in the long pauses between stating, with purpose I might add, each of the three defining facets of her style — both in design and fashion. “I would say that my overall design style, as I’ve been in school, has really shaped my personality,” she continued. “I definitely have made style choices with fashion that come into line with how I’m finding my voice as a designer.”
Laughlin took a year and half off after high school to find that “voice,” and now, as a second-semester junior studying interior design at Kean University, she has used her developed sense of identity and drive to impress her professors and colleagues and capitalize on opportunities. In the fall 2014 semester, Laughlin was one of five design students chosen to develop color palettes for dormitories at Kean University’s China campus. In the summer of 2015, she was recommended for an internship at Kravet, a design firm in New York City. She is president of Student ASID/IIDA, a design club on campus, and was among the inaugural members of K-Labs, an exclusive architecture/design atelier introduced at Kean this past summer.
Without a shred of arrogance, her quiet composure drew attention in the most unassuming way possible to the staple pieces in her wardrobe which materialize the three main characteristics of her style. “Overall, I’m usually wearing black and white or some kind of neutral,” she said, using her current outfit as a visual representation of both minimalism and repetition. “I actually don’t own a lot of clothes anymore like I used to when I was younger. I pick pieces that have quality over quantity because you can wear them again and again, but they’re versatile.”
Architectural details, as well as pattern, are where Laughlin allows the quirks and surprises of her personality to shine. “Within a minimalist style, it’s all in the details of how you dress — something as simple as ironing your shirts, making sure that everything is always presentable even if it’s a casual outfit,” she explained.
One example of a “little secret,” as Laughlin described those details in an outfit, is a pair of leopard print flats. “They make me feel special,” she explained with a smile that brightened her makeup-less face. “I like to always include something in my designs that is a little detail. It may be bold, but you don’t find it unless you pay attention.”
She mentioned another favorite — a Kelly green pleated chiffon skirt, complete with a black and white floral pattern. “It’s fresh. It’s exciting. When I’m feeling bold, I wear it,” she said. “What it says about my personality, I guess, is just the fresh approach I try to take to life in general, to designs. There are always new perspectives to be gained, and rather than judging something you don’t know, I think it’s important to always see what you can gain and what you can learn from a new experience.”
Just as the green skirt implies, Laughlin is constantly embracing new experiences to expand her skill set as a designer. She is currently designing a high-end, luxury retail space for cosmetics — a project she described as originating from the idea of French effortless beauty. Amid the design which showcases unfolding layers, her use of pattern and detail is what really defines the space.
“An example of using a pattern is this glass wall that I’m putting in, where you have these angulating lines that are really bold, but kind of speak to this soft, rhythmic, natural flow of maybe the erosion that you would find in the Grand Canyon or on some kind of river bed,” she explained, describing the space. “So it’s natural, but it’s also a really bold statement because I’ve chosen to do it in bright blues rather than soft lavenders or some kind of neutral that draws away from the pattern.”
“Something in design that you learn is: hierarchy is important. If you put too many competing things together, nothing gets to say its piece. Nothing gets a statement. And so, when I choose a pattern to wear, it’s usually the focal point of my outfit. And then I say that one statement for that day — rather than trying to say everything at the same time, so everything gets its moment,” she said, measuring her words at a careful and decisive pace which echoed the precision of her style choices.
For her latest big project, Laughlin is part of a team that has been asked to design the runway for Fashion Week 2017 in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Drawing from the city’s history as a port city, she plans to repurpose storage containers as material for constructing the runway. “We’re giving something a new purpose — something that it wasn’t given before — and so, there are new constraints on a product that has a different purpose entirely,” she said, though repurposing materials is not entirely a new concept to the seasoned designer. Last year, she participated in Fashion Meets Finish, an annual competition which challenges teams of interior designers to utilize design materials to create wearable fashion pieces.
“It’s stretching to learn these things,” Laughlin said. “It’s a lot of research that I have to do, but ultimately, it makes me a better designer in the end.” She explained that, when meeting a potential client or presenting her work, she always dresses in all black. “I don’t want my style to clash with the designs,” she said. “I want the focus to be on what I’m showing and what I’m saying. Ultimately, something that I have learned to have to do, is laying down your ego for a job. When I design a space for someone, it’s not about me. It’s about giving them what they are looking for. A design is only truly successful if it’s done what it’s being asked to do.”
She continued, “With that, it might be a certain design that I don’t relate to at all, and so I have to research those things and become that person for that client. Whereas with my fashion style,” she concluded with a chuckle and a subtle glance at her fierce feline flats, “it’s pretty selfish.”
