A CONVERSATION with STEFFI CUA

As a designer, Steffi Cua begins her work outside of the realm of fashion. Each collection she designs is a capsule of inspiration from artists that share the same values as her. This allows her to design silhouettes that speak not only to the eyes but also to the intellect and the soul.

In Earthbound II, she turns her attention to artist-farmers Derek Jarman and Agnes Varda to see what can be learned when we align our work with nature.

Fashion can be a conduit for a message. Earthbound II then, she says, is her tribute to the labor behind each garment—the planting, the tending, the harvest, and the eco-printing.

She shares a glimpse into her design process in this interview with Idyllic Summers:

01

Tell me about your formative years as an artist. Where did it all start for you?

My childhood was likely the root of everything. I’ve mentioned my mother in several instances; she practiced interior design and had an unusually eclectic eye. She was a client of Patis Tesoro, which meant I was absorbing design codes early, through osmosis more than intention.

I formally trained as a fashion designer and spent the early part of my career working for ready-to-wear brands locally, including the discontinued brand, Tyler. That phase gave me technical grounding, but it was my move to London that really sharpened me. I found myself surrounded by industry thinkers, tastemakers, and the institutions that shaped the field, including buying and merchandising directors, wholesale agency heads, UAL tutors, and high concept emerging designers.

London drilled in rigour more than anything. It taught me to think structurally, to work with discipline, and to understand fashion not just as surface but as a system.

02

You often speak about “fashion as an inquiry,” what does that look like? And who/what inspired you to think about fashion in this way?

I try to keep [my] work thoughtful, clear, and above all, wearable. I’m more interested in process than performance, and I treat fashion as a way of asking questions about form, material, and meaning.

“Fashion as an inquiry” means treating fashion not just as a product but as process and proposition. I look at silhouettes, fabrics, and gestures as forms of thought. This approach was shaped by working with artisans, by pattern cutting, and by reading beyond fashion, especially theory that helped me see structure and meaning more clearly. It made me realise I wasn’t just making clothes, I was asking questions and reframing meaning through them.

03

In what ways is Earthbound a response to, or commentary on the current state of fashion and the environment?

What we wanted to offer was an alternative view. It’s less about sustainability as a slogan, and more about attunement. Earthbound emerged from the labour of tending, foraging, dyeing, growing. Not just the end product, but the process itself held meaning. In a system driven by speed and surface, we wanted to move slower, and root deeper.

04

The “Earthbound” series is grounded in a deep connection to nature/farming. How is your relationship with nature? How did you translate that theme into the form and the pattern making?

Like many people, nature has always been a source of happiness and inspiration for me. It’s also what shaped my practice towards sustainability and ethical fashion, not as marketing terms but as grounded, lived concerns.

Earthbound II was inspired by the gestures and rhythms of artist-farmers like my collaborators, Geraldine Javier and Marionne Contreras: tending, foraging, gardening, harvesting. We looked at the physical labour behind eco-printing, the act of collecting leaves, preparing cloth, laying out plant materials. Our garments responded to that, through sun hats, aprons, foraging bags, and utility pockets, as pieces that could support or honour that kind of labour.

The original Earthbound at MO_Space was more conceptual in form, as it was in the format of an exhibition in a gallery setting. Most of the silhouettes played on spheres and circles, drawn from the idea of seeds holding eco-printed textiles within. If Earthbound was about potential and regeneration, Earthbound 2 became more tactile, closer to the ground, closer to use.

05

Can you talk about your work dynamic with Marionne and Geraldine? You mentioned that Geraldine gave Marionne some cuttings to use for Earthbound 2. Are there some things that they have shared with you/you shared with them as well?

Coming from a background so deeply embedded in fashion, working closely with visual artists shifted my perspective. Their ways of seeing, making, and thinking began to seep into my own process, the value of time and focus, away from optics and deeper into practice. It also gave me clarity, a sense of how art methods, histories, and critique can meaningfully inform fashion. And how much stronger the work can become when shaped by those kinds of exchanges.

06

What is fashion to you?

Fashion is a system of meaning. It reveals how we want to be seen, what we choose to conceal, and the values embedded in aesthetics. It can be both surface and depth, product and critique. It is a mirror, reflecting the self, society, and the structures we move through. At best, like art, it can be a conduit for a better world.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Interview by Patricia Villoria

01 Tell me about your formative years as an artist. Where did it all start for you?

02 You often speak about “fashion as an inquiry,” what does that look like? And who/what inspired you to think about fashion in this way?

03 In what ways is Earthbound a response to, or commentary on the current state of fashion and the environment?

04 The “Earthbound” series is grounded in a deep connection to nature/farming. How is your relationship with nature? How did you translate that theme into the form and the pattern making?