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Liz Collins: In The Piano, at the end, when the woman throws herself over the edge of the boat, and she's drowning in that dress, and the dress is poufing out onto the water. That's a really strong image for me. And the movie Dracula, the Bram Stoker version, all the costumes in that are amazing. And there's one scene that just stuck in my mind, and it was in my mind all through school as I was designing all of these clothes, and I was really getting into it and it's still there. When Dracula and a woman are in a parlor, and they're drinking absinthe. And there's something about the light in the room, and what they're wearing, and the colors, and the abundance of material, and just the richness of the experience. It became a psychedelic experience. That's something that's coming through me into the clothes.

 Like, this idea of the primordial body, humans before they spoke, and a fantasy world where people turn into creatures, and the Garden of Earthly Delights. I think of that, and how humans exist on this one very real plane, but then there are all these other planes, and fantasy identities and just different characters. And sometimes I think that my clothes are about giving people that experience. I mean, some of the neo-punk stuff is also tied into like me growing up as a teenager in the 1980's, and loving punk rock and New Wave. But that somehow connects with what I'm talking about.


Liz Collins

Gina Pia Cooper: I also think what's so very interesting about your clothes is that a particular piece doesn't necessarily have to be a skirt or a dress. It could be worn as a dress, but it could also be worn as a skirt. They're so versatile that way. And I just find that so interesting.

Liz Collins: Some of the pieces I make now are more easy to wear. They don't need directions; they don't need to be owned by someone who has a creative style of dress. But a lot of the pieces I've made are designed so that the wearer can interact with the piece in more than just putting it on. So, in that way, the experience becomes something where the person is empowered to transform herself.

Gina Pia Cooper: So the designing and wearing processes are parallel -- from your creative process to the person who wears it, it's the same. You call it intuitive knitting, and then the person also intuits the way to wear it.