Diana ASAL COUTURE: “Beauty can catch your eye, but emotion is what stays with you.”

You speak about remembering who we are before fear, expectations and other people’s opinions begin to shape us. When did you first feel that you had moved away from yourself, and what brought you back?

I realized I was no longer myself while I was still in a toxic relationship. I remember looking in the mirror and not recognizing the woman looking back at me. That moment gave me the courage to leave.

After I left, I went through different stages of transformation. There was fear of the unknown, then nostalgia for what I had left behind, and eventually Serendipity, a feeling of euphoria and gratitude as I began discovering life again. I turned each stage into a dress, because creating them helped me understand what I was going through and slowly find my way back to myself.

What is the difference, for you, between finding yourself and remembering yourself? Why does that difference matter so much in your life and in your work?

For me, there is a big difference. I don’t think we truly lose ourselves. We simply forget parts of who we are while trying to become who the world expects us to be.

Tell us about the dream you had about Vincent van Gogh. What happened in it, and when did you realise it was more than just a dream?

I dreamed I was in a quiet white room, surrounded by dresses floating in the air, and I met Vincent van Gogh. I asked him how he created paintings that could still make people feel something so many years later.

He said, Diana, I never made the most beautiful paintings. There are people who have made paintings more beautiful than mine. Do you know what I did? I put energy into them. I put so much of my personal experiences and authentic feelings into them that people could find themselves in them.

That is what you have to do too.

Something clicked. I realized that perhaps the point wasn’t to create the most beautiful dress. The point was to put something real into it. That was when I began creating differently.

How did that dream change the way you understand creativity and authenticity?

It taught me that I don’t want people to only see my clothes. I want them to feel something in them. Beauty can catch your eye, but emotion is what stays with you.

You have noticed that dreams, experiences, colours, symbols and creations sometimes connect without being planned. Can you share a moment when this happened while you were creating?

My 14-dress collection is the clearest example. I created each dress without knowing where the whole story was going. Only when I put them together did I realize the collection began with The Moon and ended with Sun, with a rainbow of colours between them. It felt as if the collection had written itself.

How do you make space for those unplanned connections, while still guiding a creation from the first idea to the final piece?

I guide the creation, but I don’t try to control everything. I leave room for intuition. Sometimes the most meaningful part of a creation is the thing you never planned.

Every ASAL creation has its own story and its own visual film. Where does a story usually begin for you: with a feeling, a memory, an image, or something else?

Usually, it begins with something I have felt. A memory, an emotion, a dream, sometimes even a colour. The dress comes later. For me, the story always comes before the garment.

You put real emotions and personal experiences into what you create. How do you decide how much of yourself to reveal in a piece?

I don’t really think about it as revealing a certain amount of myself. I simply create from something that is true to me.

Some experiences are deeply personal and remain mine, but the emotion behind them can still be shared. I think that is where something personal becomes universal. You don’t need to tell someone your entire story for them to recognize a part of their own in it.

You direct the creative process yourself from beginning to end. What does that full control allow you to protect in your work?

It allows me to protect the original emotion behind the idea. For me, the dress, the styling, the location, the movement, the music and the final image all need to belong to the same story.

I think when you are creating something deeply personal, there are details that only you can feel. Having control over the entire process allows me to protect that feeling until the very last frame.

You see fashion as another form of language. Is there a garment you have made that says something you could never have put into words?

Echo and ASAL. They represent the moment I understood that the love, peace and acceptance I had been searching for outside of myself were already within me. Some things are too deep to explain, but they can be felt.

You believe a creation becomes more meaningful when it helps someone feel something or get through something of their own. Has someone ever shared with you how one of your pieces touched them?

What matters most to me is the possibility that someone can see their own story in mine. My creations began as a way of understanding myself, but I hope they can become a mirror for someone else too.

If someone wore an ASAL piece for the first time, what would you hope they remember about themselves in that moment?

I would want her to remember who she was before fear, comparison and other people’s expectations. Through my creations, I hope to help women recognize the stage they are going through and give them a small glimpse of what might come next, so they don’t feel alone in the process.

Most of all, I want them to remember that they don’t need to become someone new. Sometimes, they simply need to remember who they already are.

Photographer: Sebastián Sánchez @rassebastian_ph

Fashion Brand: ASAL COUTURE @asalcoutureofficial

Creative Director: Diana Gheorghiu @asalcoutureofficial