Member Spotlight: Q&A with Grace Coudal
By: Andie Horowitz
The fabric of the Michigan Fashion Media Summit is comprised of various individuals with unique talents, interests, and passions; this diversity is what makes the MFMS so successful. This week, we sat down with our very own Lead Photographer and Graphic Designer, Grace Coudal. Grace Coudal is a Junior enrolled in Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, and has been on the MFMS team since 2018. She has actively shaped the creative aspects of our branding, adding her own unique flair to the Summit in general. Grace recently completed a project outside of MFMS that included a piece centered around the negative environmental impact denim has within its creation, illustrating the often ignored harm that the fashion products may have. She advocates for more sustainable fashion options through the use of upcycled and repurposed clothing. Grace continues to help prove that there is more to fashion than what may be examined on the surface. With similar outlooks and actions as hers, it becomes evident that fashion can be a leading tool in enacting social change.
Andie Horowitz: Your position in the Michigan Fashion Media consists of Lead Photographer and Graphic Designer. How did you find the Michigan Fashion Media Summit? What led you to apply?
Grace Coudal: “I found out about the MFMS freshman year when I heard about the MFMS Fashion Forward Showcase. Unfortunately I didn’t find out about MFMS until after the deadline for submissions, but if I had known that it existed, I definitely would’ve applied. At the time, I knew that I had always been interested in fashion, but it wasn’t really why I went to art school— I didn’t go to Michigan so I could become a fashion designer specifically. With that in mind, I applied to MFMS the following year and joined as a photographer because I wanted to bring my aesthetic of analog photography and graphic design to it. In the moment, I didn’t know a lot about the fashion industry but I knew I really liked clothing, and now I’m one of the lead graphic designers and photographers."
AH: In the article, we want to explore the negative environmental impact denim has within production. You recently took on a project that addresses the issue, entitled “It Takes 1800 Galllons of Water to Produce One Pair of Jeans”. What sparked your interest in this topic?
GC: “That actually was just one pair of jeans out of a larger project. In regards to what sparked my interest, these past two years at STAMPs and in my own artwork I’ve been really interested in exploring different mediums. I typically do a lot of 2D art—think photography, writing, graphic design, stuff like that— and last year, I just started exploring what it would be like to put those elements on a garment, really meshing all of these mixed medias together. I’ve only ever used thrifted or up-cycled clothing for my work because it just seems so wasteful for me to buy new fabric. Not only pointless to pay for more new fabric, but why would I have someone produce more fabric when there’s giant warehouses full of stuff no one wants? So then this year, I decided to create this dress made out of upcycled lingerie. And then for the next project I wanted to do something else that was wearable and a lot of my friends and I have been doing small projects by ourselves with jeans. I knew that denim in particular takes a ton of water to produce, so I wanted to use a bunch of these pants that I already owned but had never worn, and make it into this political project. I typically do a lot of projects about sexuality, identity, and intimacy, and for this, I instead took a different political approach about environmental impacts because I don’t usually do so. I mean, I think that’s what people know I’m about— I’m very sustainability and up-cycled clothing focused— but I don’t make a lot of art about it, so this was an opportunity to do that. Also, it was a chance to give these pants a new life because I wanted to wear them, but also didn’t think they were that interesting, and this project let me upcycle them. And seeing people’s reactions was really fun because I thought they were cool, but I didn’t think anyone would react like they did and be like, ‘Hey! Let me buy a pair!’”
AH: Can you elaborate on the negative environmental impact of denim and fast fashion?
GC: “I know that fast fashion in general is the second biggest polluter after oil, and the process of making denim takes a lot of water, and a lot of energy. Most clothing takes a lot of resources and energy to make and it produces a lot of CO2. That’s why I thrift a lot. I also aesthetically have my own opinions about worn jeans looking better. I mean I like stuff that's worn in. Not only is it better to up-cycle, but in my opinion, I appreciate it more. Also, donating your clothing is great and all, but a lot of times, that clothing ends up getting burned. A lot of the time they end up getting sent to third-world countries. People will just ship it away, so America thinks that we’re doing something good, but in reality, they’re shipping it to a third-world country and it basically becomes trash there. But for Americans they think it’s out of sight, out of mind.”
AH: Is there anything you wish you could change about the project looking back on it?
GC: “Well, I think one thing I do for a lot of my work is to use language and words to describe what I’m trying to get at. I was worried people wouldn’t understand what I was trying to say if I didn’t write it out and spell it out for them, and in the end I think I think that was what made it a little too obvious— directly saying that, instead of trying to visually show it in a different way. Ombreing the leg was really fun and interesting to do, and I think that kind of gave this idea of water, and what it means to flood, or what it means to lose freshwater. I wish I had pushed the inspiration of just visual depictions rather than trying to spell it out for people.”
AH: On a different note, I’ve noticed that you use social media a lot to display your work. How has social media helped you pursue your passions and your mission?
GC: “I actually have a story about this. I am really proud of the lingerie dress that I mentioned before but initially when creating it, I had the message of sexualization in mind. As I kept going through the project though, the concept slowly got watered down, and by the end of it, it wasn’t really even about the message anymore. In the end I just wanted to make a really good high fashion garment. It was interesting, because in my class, my peers didn’t really know what I was trying to say. And I didn’t know what I was trying to say. And then I think, does it matter if I’m not really saying anything? I’m not sure. But when I posted it on instagram, like I do with most of my work, the reaction to the piece was so funny. All of these people that aren’t necessarily art students or designers were so receptive to it. So it’s interesting because the larger public might view something you do as amazing, or really interesting, but then it’s the people in your field will always ask you, ‘What are you trying to say though? I think the pants were the same way. I was happy with the pants— I was more happy that I could wear the pants and that I liked them— but, I still think that if I make another pair I could definitely make it stronger. People still seemed to have liked it, though.
Back to your question though, I definitely use social media as a way for people to be updated on what I’m doing. Often times I get interested in one medium— for a very long time it was photography, specifically film photography, and now I’m kind of emerging out of that, and embarking into other things. Like right now I’m really interested in fashion. Social media’s just a way for people to see what I’m interested in. There’s a lot of pressure for artists and designers to be discovered on social media, and that is something I think a lot about. I’ve realized though that there’s a lot to say about having a small community that really appreciates your work, versus having a vast and large community that doesn’t really know you but just supports you because they don’t do art, so they think your art’s cool. My instagram right now is just such a mix of my art and just random stuff that I do with my life, which for me is really important, because I feel like I’m interchangeable with my art. It’s all still me. That’s how I want to present it and I don’t think I’d ever want to separate it.”
To see more of Grace’s designs, follow her on Instagram @gracecoudal or on her website www.gracecoudal.com . Additionally, check out her startup companies @staa.co and @itsbetweengirls.