FIDM Student Celeste Tran with long black hair parted on the side, standing against a beige wall indoors

Alumni

B.A. Design Student Celeste Tran Shows Collection at LAFW

Celeste Tran was born in Laguna Hills, California and raised in Hacienda Heights. After graduating from Glen A. Wilson High School, Celeste enrolled at FIDM to pursue her fashion industry dreams. She earned an A.A. in Fashion Design, and is currently a student in the B.A. in Design program. In response to the recent violence against Asian Americans, she designed an inspired collection for SHEIN over the summer. The talented designer also showed at LA Fashion Week recently, which will stream on November 5, 2021 at 7:00pm on fashionmusicconference.com. We chatted with Celeste to learn more about her design work and how FIDM is helping prepare her for her career.

model on the runway

Tell us about showing at LAFW: LA Fashion Week was really insane. The coordinator for the event had reached out to me late August 2021 and was like, 'hey, we’ve seen some of your work and we’d love for you to show a collection for the runway.' Of course, with the show being on October 19, 2021, that was around two months and I am a full-time student and I have a part-time job at the same time. It was a huge struggle balancing school, work, life, and this project. I’d love to say that I managed my time well, but the truth of it is, is that I procrastinated for an entire month and really got into gear after finals week for the summer quarter was over.

models on the runway

I worked every day that I could, it plagued my dreams and thoughts every second I wasn’t finished with it. Until, I finally did finish it, and it felt amazing. It will come out in the interview with FMC on the livestream of the show on November 5th, 2021 at 7pm on Amazon Fire TV via the Vimeo app and also on their website fashionmusicconference.com, but I mention in the livestream how the collection is based on this idea of expressionism and movement and the feeling of whirling with no direction and that’s really the essence of what I wanted to create.

FIDM Student Celeste Tran on the runway with models wearing her fashion designs

I love the idea of movement and so it was really important that I chose the right fabrications and earthy colors.

model wearing jeans with a fish print

Tell us about your SHEIN collection: For the SHEIN collection, I had reached out to them and was like, 'hey, I’d love to work for you,' back in February 2021. I had done this collaboration for July 2021 and it was really cool--it was during a time of heavy spotlight on AAPI hate and that provided my primary inspiration.

model

I designed the fish print as a sort ode to our collective heritage. I designed the looks, got approval, filled out tech packs, approved production samples and then it was done. It was surreal in how fast it was. It taught me a lot about compromise and the importance of communication. Additionally, 50% of the money that I earn goes to charities like St. Jude Hospital, Stop AAPI Hate, and local food banks. I think I’m privileged to have had the opportunities that I’ve had and I want to share it.

model wearing a dress

How is FIDM helping you prepare for your career? FIDM has helped me in a lot of ways. It really rounded out my education as a fashion designer. It isn’t enough to know how to draw, design, and sew; you have to understand the labor that goes behind the looks, the technicalities of production, and the real human impact and stories behind who you’re creating for.

View Celeste's design portfolio at celestetran.com and keep up with her on Instagram @celestetrxn.

Categories: Design Fashion Design Alumni Student