My theme for my chinatown-inspired garment is ‘cultural assimilation and appropriation’. In chinatown, I observed many things.

Chinatown is quite distanced from modern China, not just geographically but also in their cultural development. In chinatown, there is a mixture of old-fashioned Chinese, and other Asian, culture, and modern American culture.

There is a mixture of Chinese and English, but Chinese is dominant, as many signs are only in Chinese, and many speak in Chinese, and barely know English.

The smell is really bad, caused by all the fish, and other exotic Chinese foods, sold in the streets. One thing that really inspired me were all the cool Chinese fruit, which looked really pretty, and had interesting shapes, patterns, and colors.

Another aspect, which really inspired me about chinatown is the Japanese culture, and the contrast between the clothes sold in stores there, and the actual street style.