Evening wear can be revealing and classy, avant-garde and feminine…[I’m fascinated] by the nighttime, it’s a more unpredictable time. There’s a freedom to being protected by the darkness. Less inhibitions and more exciting stuff happens.

Anna Bolina is a fashion designer whose SS24 NYFW show revisited the puffer dress and other avant-garde forms of evening wear. Bolina sits down with associate editor Raff Patel to discuss the trial and error involved in developing her creations.

RAFF PATEL: This past October, you had a huge show in NYFW. Now that we’re starting a new year, I’m wondering how the year went for you, overall?

ANNA BOLINA: Super challenging. There were a lot of changes in my life. I moved houses and into a temporary studio where I did the February collection in a literal month. Then I moved into my current studio. Since then, I’ve been rebuilding and figuring out what’s next. This past year was a lot of, like, okay, I need to figure out how I’m going to be creative in a different way and how I’m going to turn this into an actual business and not just me having fun and messing around.

PATEL: Have you figured out that balance?

BOLINA: Yes and no. It’s getting to be way too much for such a small team. There’s only two of us working on these collections.

PATEL: In the SS23 collection, you get more into evening wear. I was wondering what that meant for you and your brand.

BOLINA: I always feel with every collection like I’m reacting to what people expect of me and wanting to prove them wrong. Before this, I was known for very sexual designs, you know, skimpy. But I wanted to be, like, that’s not all. Putting my designs into the space of evening wear made me think of how to reinvent the usual styles in my own way. I think evening wear can be revealing and classy, avant-garde and feminine. It’s complicated and sexy.

PATEL: What does the nighttime mean to you?

BOLINA: Nighttime has just always been such a huge part of my life. I’ve always been a night person. Recently I started working during business hours since I’m also a professional person, now, but before that I was a dancer so I always worked at night. During the day, I just wear the same pair of sweatpants. I don’t care about daytime outfits. I only put on my nails and do my hair for the night. Nighttime is important because it’s a more unpredictable time. There’s a freedom to being protected by the darkness. Less inhibitions and more exciting stuff happens. It’s always been the most fascinating, fun time for me.

PATEL: In fashion, everything is focused on what’s new or what’s coming next. Life and our lived experiences aren’t always so linear. But you’re so close to your brand that it’s a part of your life. How do you reconcile that?

BOLINA: It’s really hard. I don’t want to do the same thing over and over again. But how do I branch out and find new places and new processes? That’s something I’ve been struggling with. I’m not a person whose taste changes very often. I can eat something every day for a year or I’ll watch a movie over and over. I guess I go through phases, but they’re always really long. Again, I react to what I think people expect of me; I get self-conscious that people think I’m re-using textures, materials, shoes, whatever from previous collections. I’m always a little unsatisfied with my work and always feeling like I could take things a little further.

PATEL: Your use of printed text and your tube dresses have become so prevalent over time, I know you’ve been ripped off on those designs. It becomes an issue when you’re trying to expand creatively and people look at that go, yeah, well, that’s just what Anna Bolina is.

BOLINA: Totally. That always happens when you introduce a customer base to someone or something. It’s really hard to get them to shift to liking a new style or new personality. I’m not going to do any more text designs if I don’t feel like I have any more phrases left in me. I think that what really hit with my initial text-based designs was that were bold and sexy, but they were also saying something in an aggressive way. Like I purposefully said: who are we trying to impress? Not just who are you trying to impress, but, like, who are we all trying to impress? I’m trying to impress everyone, too.

PATEL: For sure.

BOLINA: I never say I’m not trying to impress, because I definitely always am. I just wonder sometimes, you know, why, and who is this for, and should I stop.

PATEL: Has that changed at all since you’ve reached this inflection point with your career and studio space?

BOLINA: I’ve always had a bit of imposter syndrome. But I do feel more comfortable as the brand grows. The fashion industry is not doing anything for me right now. It’s not helping me. That might be my bad, I might not know how to ask for help. But it’s, like, why am I trying to do a full collection twice a year during Fashion Week? Because if I don’t, I get FOMO. I have high expectations for myself and I’m very hard on myself. It’s a double-edged sword.

PATEL: There’s benefits to being an insider and getting that help. But at the same time, there’s something desirable about being an outsider.

BOLINA: There’s definitely something gratifying about being able to say you did it on your own. I don’t feel fully accepted into the world yet, but I feel totally accepted by the community around me.

PATEL: Was there a moment this past year you felt like you were on the edge of something?

BOLINA: In a good way or a bad way?

PATEL: [Laughs] I feel like the edge is both. Was there a moment where you were really pushing yourself or challenging yourself with this new collection?

BOLINA: I think of cutting edge when I hear that. I think a good example is right before the last show, I felt really on edge in the sense that I was feeling good about the process and the collection we’d made. It was the biggest show we’ve ever done. Since then, I’ve been on the edge of quitting every single day. On the day-to-day, I definitely feel like I’m always on the edge of just, like, fully losing my mind. I’m trying to build back into a creative state of mind after needing to think about so many other things for such a long time, just things about being myself and being healthy. After the show, my body just said: you have to stop, you have to slow down and take a rest.

PATEL: When that happens you can go back to the basics of what really matters. Which may be additionally hard when I feel like you interface with your audience in a really direct way, again, your brand is so intrinsically linked to your life. People might look to you as an emblem of how they want to feel when they wear your clothes.

BOLINA: Definitely. [Burnout] has been hard on me because I can’t create content like I normally do, which I feel like is what really keeps the brand going. I can’t post if I’m not having fun with it and I’m just not feeling it right now. It made me realize I have to set up the brand in such a way that I can take time off and things don’t just completely come to a halt. It’s different now that there’s expectations that I put on myself. If I don’t have the energy to look my best, I don’t want to go to the party because I don’t want to roll up to the club without my hair extensions or whatever. I used to do that and it would be fine, but now I feel, like, if people are going to see me out, I have to be looking great. I’ve also been thinking about a more covered up style.

PATEL: Has your design work helped you figure out who you are as a person?

BOLINA: Yes, through trial and error. I’m just living my life and I’ve always wanted to figure out who I am. I’m open to trying anything. I design because I’ve always really wanted to do something expressive and artistic, I just have energy inside me that needs to get out. I feel like I just can’t help who I am at this point. Like, I’m just me.