Bingyue Wei aspires to become a professor and teach a class on creative, wearable design. When she isn’t busy working on her research, Bingyue enjoys spending time with her family and baking.

Get to know Bingyue

  • Program: Apparel design and production
  • Year: Third year doctoral student
  • Hometown: Shandong, China
  • Career goal: Tenure-track academic position in creative wearable design
  • Awards/honors/scholarships: Alvannon Sustainability Award at the International Textiles and Apparel Association (ITAA) Design Competition; Finalist at the International Arts of Fashion Competition in San Francisco
  • Most influential ISU mentors: Eulanda Sanders, Ellen Carol McKinney, Ling Zhang
  • Favorite class: AMD 525, Experimental Patternmaking, AMD 625, Design Theory and Process
  • Why Iowa State: Prestigious apparel, merchandising, and design program, dedicated faculty

Bingyue Wei crafts sustainable fashion, explores creativity and appearance

Bingyue Wei’s enthusiasm for sustainable fashion stemmed from several lectures she attended at the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) annual conferences. It was at this event that she discovered the fashion industry negatively impacts the environment.

Upon returning to campus after the conferences, Bingyue decided to take a sustainable design course at Iowa State University, in which she learned sustainability concepts and the applications of various theoretical frameworks.

“For me, apparel design is more than just making visually beautiful clothing for consumers. It is about creating clothing that is psychologically beneficial for the customer and physically valuable for the earth,” Bingyue said.

Gathering her newfound knowledge and applying it to her research, Bingyue is exploring the relationship between creativity and appearance. She is discovering how the two work together in order to understand how the appearance management of creative people affects their overall creativity.

“I am interested in exploring the relationship between creative people and their appearance in order to understand how the appearance management of creative people affects their creativity, and then will demonstrate this connection through the creation of sustainable wearable designs,” she said.

This fall, Bingyue is most excited to dig deeper into her research and continue to be a mentor.

She is a mentor and teacher for multiple classes on campus, including AMD 210, Computer Applications in Digital Design and EVENT 212, Digital Production in Event Management. Previously, she worked with an individual student on their independent study project. This fall, Bingyue will collaborate with four undergraduate teaching assistants.

Bingyue is inspired by what she’s learned thus far through her studies and experiences, and she aspires to obtain a tenure-track academic position teaching creative wearable apparel design.

“I realized I can help others achieve their goals. I can transfer my knowledge to my students.” Bingyue said.