Interview With AUIS Graduate Milan Meriwani: On Fashion Design and Lack of Arts at AUIS
Milan Meriwani, an AUIS alumni, is an aspiring fashion designer and has been working on fashion illustrations for years, a passion he extended to the AUIS campus, where he was the president of the fashion club.
Milan is a recent graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, achieving the highest grade in the engineering department. Milan believes that his passion for design has been instrumental in his engineering studies, allowing him to think outside the box.
His affinity for fashion started at a young age, watching the fashion design competition show Project Runway, which inspired him to sketch his very own first draft. Growing up, he dedicated himself more earnestly to his craft, developed skills in drawing human figures and made designing his daily habit.
To Milan, fashion design is like any other art form: it should convey a certain feeling and tell a story. That is why he considers his own portfolio as a book with various storylines. These “stories” can be found on his Instagram page, where he displays his vibrant designs. The intent of storytelling is especially evident by the fact that most of Milan’s sketches are named. “I name them based on how I felt when I drew my design, as my designs are like a diary book,” he said. But he also wants to show people what the story behind his dresses are with a name.
Yama dress: This is a dress designed by Milan. Yama refers to the god of death and punishment in Hinduism, @milanmeriwani on Instagram. Photo by Milan Meriwani
Eventually, Milan intended to turn his sketches into actual designs. However, the lack of professional fashion design courses, such as sewing classes, that are almost non-existent in Sulaymaniyah, limits such pursuits.
“I watched many YouTube videos, purchased sewing machines, and spent a significant amount of money on the courses I attended. However, I gained little knowledge because they only provided a few patterns, demonstrating how to create various dresses, pants, and shirts based on those templates. To be honest, my dresses and designs are far more complicated; they delve much deeper into the realm of artistry than ready-to-wear or event dresses.”
Even though his Instagram account has been inactive for a while, Milan is still working on sketches and is hoping to find an opportunity to learn the art of designing, in order to actualize his own designs.
In the following interview, we spoke more about how he thinks about fashion and art, especially in regards to AUIS.
What made you start a fashion club at AUIS?
Establishing the fashion club, my primary goal was to instill the idea that fashion serves as a means of self-expression and is also a form of art. It’s more than simply choosing an outfit; what you wear reflects who you are and the message you aim to convey. For instance, in a job interview, you want to project professionalism, while at a party, you might aim for a confident and alluring look. Fashion involves more than donning a piece of fabric; it’s akin to cosplaying something you wish to communicate to others. Essentially, it’s a daily form of what Halloween represents, though people may not realize it.
What was the demographic of your Fashion club like? Did more female or male students join?
It was easier to attract women, reflecting societal norms that emphasize women’s interest in fashion. However, this perception is flawed. Men, too, should care about what they wear, and the notion that they should only wear a clean shirt and pants is misguided. As I mentioned earlier, one’s clothing is a reflection of identity, akin to a second skin.
What about the demographics of your fashion Instagram account?
It is a mixture of everything. Since I’ve had it throughout my AUIS journey, I have my old friends, high school friends, AUIS students, my family, and people outside whom I don’t know.
Do you feel like your experience is different because you’re a male fashion illustrator?
One thing I realized here is that fashion is associated with femininity. If you want to design women’s clothes you should be a woman, and if you design for men you should be a man. This is so wrong, because, if you look at the fashion industry, many designers design for both men and women. This is my opinion, and I could be wrong, but I believe a woman can oftentimes design for a man better than a man could, and a man can design for a woman better than a woman could because they can exhibit certain energies in better ways than the opposite gender.
While you didn’t get to study fashion, do you think that your mechanical engineering major has helped you in any way with your designs?
I feel like both of them can be very different from each other, yet they are still a good mix. Design can help you think outside the box, and that’s a very good skill for a mechanical engineer. A lot of engineers are very conservative in their ideas and want to follow the rules. Since designing enables me to think outside the box, it has helped me with the engineering field as well. Mechanical Engineering, is not a very “sparkly” subject, while designing is just art and drawing, ideas and feelings. When it comes to mechanical engineering, feelings are not accepted. You just go by rules, by equations, experiments and so on.
As much as designing has helped me with mechanical engineering, mechanical engineering did not help my design creation that much because designing made me think outside the box, think freely and take risks, which is important in every career and in everything you do in life. For example, when I did a research project or created a prototype, the designing helped me to take risks and think outside the box. I was always thinking “Ok, this is how it is, but let’s do it somehow differently and see how it will work.” But a lot of students used to say “No, this is how it’s supposed to be and let’s just do it that way.” This is just not correct, since most innovations happen due to risk-taking.
Do you think that AUIS should implement fashion or design classes in their curriculum?
I do completely believe that AUIS should have a curriculum or class regarding arts as a whole, not just fashion designing because designing is also a form of art. The class should purely focus on art, how it is made and how people can express their feelings through words, pictures, drawings, and not just on the history of art. One thing a lot of majors lack is the innovative side. Innovations happen because of risk taking, and art helps with thinking outside the box and taking risks, and that is why I think art is very important in our lives. When people to know how to incorporate art into their regular jobs, they will go further in their careers, and build new skills.
Now that you’ve graduated, is there anything you want to tell the current AUIS students? Any advice?
I think my advice to AUIS students would be to look at life in every aspect of it in an artistic way – meaning, they should always be free, express their ideas, and think outside the box. The main point is to be free and to say whatever you have to say with words, pictures, painting, and acting. They should be free with themselves and their ideas. Even in their majors, having a spark of art is always important because it makes the person go further. Art comes naturally from freeing yourself. A lot of artists put their tears and pain into the art to express themselves and free themselves from pain. Everyone should have the ability to do that.
Another important point I want to emphasize is the idea of rebelling against societal norms and familial expectations. AUIS students should pursue the careers and majors they are passionate about, disregarding the predefined rules set by society or family. Personally, I was accepted into medicine, but I chose not to pursue it because it wasn’t my true interest. I followed my instincts, selected what I truly wanted, and now, I am content and without regrets. No external pressure influenced my decision. I encourage everyone to do the same. One valuable lesson I’ve learned over the years is that choosing a path based on others’ opinions, and facing failure, can be more damaging than if you had followed your own desires. This aligns with the essence of art – to go with the flow, let your pen guide you, and carve your unique path.
- Lara Abdullah