In the context of growing matriarchy, Boya Wen reflects upon the power of women and the strength of sexual and feminine energy through her garments recently released in Paris fashion week. Her designs entwined with Asian concepts and philosophy along with western silhouettes and structure brings a peculiar characterism in the wearer, what she calls the women of Queendom.

Hi Boya! I'm going to begin by first congratulating you for your beautiful collection released recently. I want to know what made you choose fashion designing as a profession?

I got into college to study financial engineering, and after graduation, I found that repeating Nobel laureates’ work and theories from 20 years ago is not my passion, I want to do something for girls my age, and be more interactive with the nowadays world, so I decided to give fashion a go. After college and working for two years, IFM happened, my teacher, Vanja took me in, and voila now I’m able to start my career in fashion. It’s definitely a dream come true.

Please take us through your early memories of creative explorations and experimentations in life.. What were the events and activities you were indulged in.. how were you first exposed to different cultures and art mediums?

My mom had an interest in fashion when she was young, but the financial situation back then wouldn’t allow it, also society promoted the idea that girls should become virtuous wives and good mothers. So she gave up her dream in fashion, found herself a teaching job, and became a mom. But things are different for my generation now, girls are encouraged to go for their dreams, and becoming a mother is no longer a must. So when I grew up flipping through my mom’s fashion magazines, fashion has become a dream that I inherited from my mom. The earliest fashion event that I participated is that we had a beauty pageant in elementary school, and we were asked to design our own outfits. And yes, I won with a pleated skirt and a fruit necklace, I remember that I paraded the fruit necklace around and felt so proud of myself. As for cultural shocks, not so much when I got to Australia and Singapore, but when I came to Paris, the biggest cultural shock is that how much people love to wear black/grey coats in winter, we joked that it’s illegal to wear other colors in winter here in Paris.

Your collection is colorfully rich and has somewhat Indian motifs and elements of design and art. Please tell us all about the creative process of this collection, how and why did you take this concept?

My graduation project is coming from my central Asian heritage, I grew up in a small oasis city inside of a central Asian desert, for thousands of years it has always been a furnace of culture and I love it so much. We don’t have a large population there but over 40 nationalities live there in peace. People are amazingly nice and warmhearted, and the traditional attires of them have become my understanding of beauty since I was a kid. In terms of colors, desert people tend to use as many technicolor as they can put their hands on, I use color in an emotional and storytelling way just as my people, so that’s a part of my heritage that I carry with me. In my graduation project I pictured an imaginary matriarchal tribe in the Western Region called Queendom, the idea came from a very famous ancient fantasy novel, Journey to the West, west here means the Western Region, which was my hometown’s name thousands of years ago. So the project is a combination of my understanding of feminism and my heritage. I did do a project about India 2 years ago, for it has such a unique culture and belief, all cultures are fascinating for me, they are what humans have in common for generations, and also what makes us different from each other.

Feminism and spiritual ideas are peaking out of your designs. Please elaborate on that.

Feminism is the foundation of my creations, if I don’t care about girls, I think there’s no way to input 100% of my energy and time into making clothes for them. When I’m thinking of a new design, I first think of what girls of our generation want.

“The best sex I have is my power” speaks of destigmatizing and de-shaming the sexual experiences with a rather open upfront power of sexual intimacy.. What was is the story of this tagline and what do you wish for women? Did you hold any fear on how it might make the wearer be slut-shamed or be judged?

Oscar Wilde once said, “Everything in human life is really about sex, except sex itself. Sex is about power.” As an unavoidable result of patriarchy, women constantly feel judged by their sexual partners, sex is considered as almost a special way to serve men and society, by becoming the carrier of children and a serviceable wife, instead of pure sensory enjoyment. I can picture women taking back our long-lost power in society in foreseeable future, and we are going to keep boys running around to gain our approval, to try to fit in the aesthetical standards we set for them, as things should be. So I’m not worried about the wearer is going to be slut-shamed, when it’s a modern society that’s in favor of feminism, the word slut can never be used in a negative way.

Speaking of culture and social issues with you participating in the growing matriarchy, would it ok for you to speak of your very own struggles and issues that you grew up experiencing as a female?

As a female in the 21st century, we are facing many implicit discriminations, when I grew up, boys were encouraged to take risks, to build muscles, while girls were told by adults to acks like ‘a lady’, which is clearly a restriction to force girls to just stay put and smile. My high school teacher told me that even though I did pretty well but I’m eventually gonna be defeated by boys because ‘boys are better at this. Guess who graduated with the highest score in class Mister. Despite these setbacks and psychological tricks, girls still come out on top when they become respectable adults, I’m so proud of every girl who fights for themselves and for sisterhood, and one of those days, girls will win, because actually, girls are better at everything.

What are the other issues and matters now you looking forward to working upon?

With graduation approaching, I have more time to myself in comparison. I’m thinking about launching my own career in creative textile design, while looking for opportunities in the fashion industry, to get to know more about its mechanism and how it works as such an inspiring part of society and culture.