We had the good fortune of connecting with Kenzie Stiles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kenzie, can you tell us about a book that has had a meaningful impact on you?
This is a difficult one because I’m constantly reading. I think storytelling is always my primary concern when I’m working on a project.

In terms of books that influenced my creative pursuits, one of my first collections was inspired by The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. I liked the idea of telling a story about a person based on the objects they have with them. After that book, I read an article about how our evolving climate is changing the chemical makeup of organic materials. I began to imagine this story where humans are at a certain point in the future in which they’re ready to move on to the next world. What things would they bring with them? I liked the idea of carrying memorabilia of something you loved to keep you moving forward, so I began to think of ways to carry Earth on the body.

I did this by taking my fabric experiments and combining them with magnified slides of the ocean to create surface designs, setting pressed plants in resin to create zipper pulls and other hardware, and lining the clothing with photo transfers of important moments in world history. The silhouettes were loosely inspired by Army uniforms and could transform from a garment into an item that would be useful in an apocalyptic future. For instance, a winter jacket could snap differently and become a sleeping bag.

My next collection was a collaboration with Donald “C-Note” Hooker, and it dealt with prison reform. At the time I was reading Just Mercy and American Prison.

There are countless more I could get into.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’ve always enjoyed blending art and technology. I think it gave my work a different angle than a lot of my peers because I was very STEM focused before I decided to attend university for the arts. I think it always felt a bit like I had a foot in two worlds and I had to reconcile how to make that a strength rather than a weakness.

In my thesis collection I experimented with laser cutting, 3D printing, circuits, programming, tattooing on leather, and embroidered QR codes. After I graduated in 2020, I was able to collaborate with a group at MIT on some designs inspired by AI-generated fashion. It got me thinking about ways machine learning could be used to genuinely assist artists rather than attempting to replace them.

In 2019 I had an internship with Susan Alexandra. She’s an amazing person who designs beautiful bags, and everything is made by local women in NYC. At the time they were designing their first ready-to-wear collection, which is obviously a very labor intensive process. Besides being expensive, it’s just time consuming, and a technical designer will spend a lot of time on different iterations. I thought back to that experience after dipping my toes into machine learning.

What if we could give power to small and medium businesses who are making fashion the right way by expediting the pattern design process? I wondered if a model could ever automatically generate sewing patterns from a sketch. It couldn’t totally replace pattern designers, but it would make their jobs way easier, and could bring the cost of garments down without cutting corners.

With all of that in mind, I created my business, Iridis. Developing this has been a monumental task for someone with no background in data science, but our first prototype is slowly coming to fruition. You can sign up for the waitlist at iridis.app.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Definitely my parents. My dad is a bit of an artist himself–the man can dream up and build anything, so he’s always been a source of knowledge and support for me when I’m taking on projects that are pushing the limits of my skillset. My mother is one of the kindest people you’ll ever meet and she’s selflessly supported me in any way I needed.

My friend Ashley Callahan, a photographer, has always been ready to take on crazy ideas with me, and she constantly inspires me with how in love she is with her craft. My other artist friend, Emma Coleman, is ridiculously brave and is always getting me to push my limits–she introduced me to the organization where I led my first fashion show. Lastly, my good friend Lauren is someone who I can laugh and do crafts with while we take a break from the stresses of life.

Website: kenziestiles.com

Instagram: @k8temoss

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/makenzie-stiles-8b5a55142/

Other: iridis.app

Image Credits
Kenzie profile photo: Photographer Ethan Benavidez, Concept by Dempsey Ewan White dresses photos: Photographer Ashley Callahan Model Isabella Nguyen Black dress photos: Photographer Ashley Callahan Model Haley Callahan

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