Elizabeth Kuzyk Interview: Design During Quarantine

Marianna

We’ve now been in quarantine for about two months. Has being home all day created new pockets of time to reflect on your vision for KUZYK?

Elizabeth

One of the things I am most grateful for during this time is the opportunity to reconnect with the girl inside me who wanted to start this. When I was still in school, I’d stay up all night sketching and building mood boards. I’ve been reconnecting to that early drive, that passion, that ambition. This feels like what I’m meant to do. The stay at home order has put me in an interesting position creatively, as someone who usually juggles so much. This has been a great opportunity for me to really reconnect with the world I want to be creating.

Marianna

You feel reconnected to your original mission and your intention behind designing pieces?

Elizabeth

The intention behind what I do at KUZYK is to create pieces that invite the wearer to tap into elements of their true self. Putting on a piece, I want to reawaken that kid in you that just wants to dance and have fun, and isn’t worried about the things we become trained to worry about.

Clothing is a tool. Take the perfect leather jacket - I imagine it’s 1:00 AM in New York City, and someone is sad from a bad breakup... and she puts that jacket on, and she suddenly feels unstoppable. She can walk empowered to the corner store and buy that pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream [laughter].

Marianna

Quarantine has required us all to be flexible with our schedules, our goals, and find new ways to move our projects forward. Describe a current day-in-the-life of designing KUZYK.

Elizabeth

It took a lot of workshopping the first few weeks of quarantine, but I finally have a structure in place that I like…

I wake up early in the morning, meditate, and then do an hour of movement. I dance - it’s an opportunity to feel grounded, shake out energy, and check-in with yourself. I don’t check emails in the morning.
I set up my mood fort [laughter] which is a series of mood boards I’ve positioned into a fort-like structure. I’m moving around all the mood boards that inspire me right now and deciding what I want to look at all day.
I take a little time easing into my design desk, which means reconnecting with a source of inspiration. I’m purposely surrounded by inspiration - having an old movie on, my mood boards, flipping through art books…
Then, I begin sketching. In the past few years, I’ve learned to communicate designs in different ways and haven’t found myself sketching as much. Because of quarantine, I’ve spent more time sketching in the last two months than I have the last few years combined. There’s something about being in creative flow - by that I mean a comfortable, effortless state - and new creative ideas come in a moment of silence while in this state of flow.

It feels exciting yet daunting. You feel the force that pulls you toward something, and you just know that’s what you are supposed to doing...and yet there’s something inside you that’s afraid, that pulls back. I’m finding ways to overcome that fear by making the process fun.

After a period of sketching, I take advantage of the gorgeous Los Angeles weather and go outside. Usually, this includes a second meditation. When I come back inside, I may pick back up creatively sketching if I’m having fun with it. That’s the key. I always want to leave what I’m doing with a sense of excitement to come back to it tomorrow.

Now that it’s afternoon, I check in on my written to-do’s. I have a written running list of things that require using my computer. It includes replying to emails and running several projects such as drafting my executive assistant job description and organizing future photoshoots... I can find myself reviewing spreadsheets on where we’ve allocated money and what’s worked, what can improve, what lessons I can glean…

Marianna

Describe your creative process during the quarantine.

Elizabeth

Working from home has been a worthwhile experience. I’m noticing how much I allowed distraction into my life. We all do. When this started, I thought to myself Now is my time to be a boss. I had to relearn what that looked like because the past two years I’ve been busy running to meetings, traveling to the garment district to find a zipper, a certain lining, dropping this off, shipping that on time…. staying on top of all of these details.

My normal became very overwhelming. Now while in quarantine, I’m learning how to break things down.

Abstractly, what I do as a designer is take garments that people feel comfortable with and see how that piece interacts with the body. Is the skirt supposed to be flowing in the wind? Then that person is putting it on for events where she gets to watch it flow. I’ve been going through my personal closet and asking myself, what are the pieces that have made a difference in my life?

What sets me apart from other designers is that I design piece by piece. I don’t need to create eight jackets to go with a skirt. The days of showcasing a collection based on one piece, one memory, doesn’t work anymore. I’m not interested in designing like that.

My mission is to make strong, stand-alone pieces that light people up. Pieces that people want to wear, pieces that make you feel good. Maybe pieces that make you feel like you’re dancing at Studio 54, even though you missed the cut. That’s what I want. No need for fluff.

Marianna

And this translates to your relationship with your own wardrobe as well.

Elizabeth

Yes, I’ve paired myself down to a very edited closet, and each piece serves a strong purpose. I pull out these unique pieces - for example, one is a tank top my grandmother gave me from the late ’60s, early ’70s (I take after her, we are very close). I think about the life she must have lived, and I imagine her so happy in those years. Her piece makes me think, I want to share this feeling with the rest of the world, and see how this piece makes other people feel.

So I’m designing something from it. I’ve decided to make a top and a skirt using a light metal fabric I’m very excited about, that feels special - the fabric comes from Paris, the suppliers make many materials exclusively for Chanel and I’ve just started working with them.

Marianna

What inspiration have you been pulling from during self-isolation?

Elizabeth

The pieces in my closet. I’ve also been thinking a lot about freedom. It’s always been important to me, a theme that acts as my north star. I’ve been thinking about what it looks like, feels like. To me freedom feels like hitting an open road, driving fast down a highway with nowhere to go.

I’ve also been inspired by early women motorcycle riders. Clothing that served a purpose during that time. It makes me think of Amelia Airhart, how she wore her jacket for protection and security. She is an image of freedom, grace, and strength. I can’t imagine her leaving that aviator jacket in her plane and going on with her life without it. It must have become a part of her. Those pieces have utility. They tell a story.

I’m also spending time reconnecting with a lot of old movies - the Kuzyk Film Club is up and running [laughter]. Movies have always been such an important source of inspiration. They have the ability to transport you to another world, introduce you to people and a time you would never otherwise experience, especially when I find myself sitting in an old theatre. Understanding what life was like during those times, and the role that clothing played in all of it. I just love old movies.

Marianna

If you could be transported into an old movie, which would you pick?

Elizabeth

I just finished watching the Studio 54 documentary again, and I would have been really good at that [laughter]. That life. This isn’t a movie, but I also listen to my father’s stories of following the Grateful Dead in the ’70s, I go to Grateful Dead shows with him every summer and I think - I was made for that too [laughter].

Perhaps the movie Sylvia Scarlett - Katharine Hepburn plays a woman disguised as a man. I love the clothes. She looks so strong and graceful at the same time, wearing those men’s suits. So elegant and timeless. And she was having fun in the men’s clothing!

Marianna

Any quarantine reading recommendations to share?

Elizabeth

I just finished Bob Iger’s book, The Ride of A Lifetime. I’m about to restart The 21 Lessons of the 21st Century by Harari. I read Tiny Habits recently as well. My book taste right now ranges from biography and business, taking notes from people I admire.

Marianna

You’re also a trained meditation teacher! Any tips for helping others cope with self-isolation?

Elizabeth

Don’t set goals to come out of this. Don’t set expectations for yourself. You need to learn what it’s like to be compassionate toward yourself. We all have ideas individually for what that looks like. Be ready to workshop those ideas. Some days, sometimes every thirty minutes, I’m checking in with myself and seeing how I feel. See what works for you.

Before starting your day, also take a moment to scan your body. Let your hands relax and notice them because they’ll be busy serving you throughout the day. Notice yourself, nonjudgmentally, and be compassionate with where you are at the beginning of every morning. And meet yourself there. If I don’t, if I ignore what my body wants to tell me, I end up pushing myself and find myself pacing the house, eating sugar, and that doesn’t work out in the end.

It’s important to learn how to be still. Meditation has taught me to check in with the body. The body keeps score and it always wins.

Also, delete your social media. Delete your Instagram for five days. See how you feel.

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About Elizabeth Kuzyk:

Originally hailing from Calgary, Canada, designer Elizabeth Kuzyk moved to New York to study fashion design at Parsons School of Design. It was there that she learned the technical skills of design and developed her individuality as a designer.

Post-graduation she worked with industry stalwarts Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler, and Vera Wang, where she initially focused on couture. The emphasis on construction and detail, as well as creating one of a kind, unique garments are concepts that she has translated into Kuzyk.

Ultimately preferring to create ready-to-wear, Elizabeth saw an opportunity to use garments to make people feel empowered and at their most beautiful. Valuing craftsmanship and quality, Kuzyk aims to be timeless and thoughtful, a mainstay in a woman's wardrobe. Elizabeth currently resides in Los Angeles, where the collection is designed. Kuzyk is manufactured entirely in New York City and Los Angeles.