Financial District NY + Latvian Folk Dress + Rei Kawakubo
My chosen ethnic group is Latvian, and their folk dress interested me. “Latvia is situated in Eastern Europe on the Baltic Sea, bordered by Russia to the east”; as a nation, it declared its independence in 1917. Around that time period, Latvia was in a turmoil of revolution and has been defeated by Russian. The big wave of Latvian-American immigration started from 1860s, and it had lasted for almost a century by 1960s. “Most Latvians, like other immigrants, started out in low-paying , unskilled jobs, but over the years gained experience and higher socioeconomic status.” It seems like Latvians were not threats to anyone in the society, they did their jobs to make a living. Most of the early immigrants were neutralized by other ethnics, whereas the late immigrants stick more to their origin.
Although as a they were to few to form a ethnic neighborhood, they had a Latvian-American Association, and by some extent keep Latvian customs. Folk dress, Latvian national garment, were deserved to be kept as it’s a obvious aspect of Latvian appearance. It is a type of dress that generally has a top(usually a shirt or has a cardigan over), and a long dress from waist to ankle. Not only Latvia has folk dress, many other East European cultures have it, yet have different designs. Even inside Latvia, different regions has different featured designs of folk dress. Some have a wide waist band; some use a wraps; and some dresses has a open front. Regardless the different features, I took the basic form and had one concept which is defending the crucial winter in Latvia. “In winter both men and women wore long, homespun woollen or fur Coats.”
As my mission, I had to interpret with the 2 other themes: Financial District in New York and Rei Kawakubo. First, the three themes seemed no relations at all, but later I was inspired by Rei Kawakubo’s design process: she always imagines the garments she design will be worn by some specific ones. I learned that and I imagined a proud, powerful woman, who works in the financial field would wear this. And as the original garment, today folk dresses are mostly seen on stages or during traditional festivals. As Reikawakubo said: “Creation takes things forward. Without anything new there is no progress. Creation equals new.” So that if I keep the original design or pattern, it would be awkward to wear on the street in lower Manhattan. It’s more about a national symbol to Latvians. However, I want it to be used as a daily dress, meanwhile make it no longer national related, The first concept is to have a long pencil dress instead of long loose dress with pleats. As my honor to Rei Kawakubo, I designed a folded front and two oversize pockets on each side in the front. The top, I designed a straight fur vast down to the hip, inside would be a shirt. As my color option, The top fur vast would be light blue; the dress would be plain red, and the pocket has a shown part which I will use plain red plus white spots on it, or either use plain yellow to show the comparison.
Though it was a struggle to gather every concept together, I found a way to combining the advantages. None of these aspects weights too much, they share the same importance and benefits each other. As a outcome, I learned a lot, by accumulating a experience of the design process.
My original resource is Financial district+Rei Kawabuko+Latvian Folk dress. This is my design that gather these aspects together, imagining a proud powerful women who works in financial field, wearing this fur vast , together with this stereo dress that has a folded front and a huge pocket. Originally, folk dress is a regional symbol that represent a spirit of regional history. And as its function, it’s used for defensing the frozen winter in. Different types of folk dress share the same basic, which is a blouse matches with a high waist dress with drapes. Then I took a little idea from pencil dress that office lady usually have, plus Rei Kawakubo’s style to create the pocket over sized. The fur vast is outside of a shirt. As my option, I use red to honor the beauty of women and Rei Kawakubo. The pocket pattern is not decided., but I‘ve got few options: plain yellow, plain white&red spot, or plain red+white spot. The top I will use light blue. As a extra, I might also add a wide waist belt.
1, Straumanis, Andris. “Latvian Americans.” Every Culture. http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Ha-La/Latvian-Americans.html.
This website has a full written documentary of Lavian American, including their history, habits, customs, and almost everything about their life. After the end of the article, I can view others reviews, few of them actually corrected some faults, and many Latvian-Americans shared their own family stories in comments.
2, Pīgozne, Leva. “Folk Dress.” Latvian Institute. http://www.latvia.lv/library/folk-dress.
This website is a perfect resource for studying Latvian costumes. It states the early history of folk dress in Latvia, and what it indicates now. Through very detailed descriptions, I learned that there are different type of folk dresses depends on regions, populations and customs.
3, http://www.latvia-newyork.org/english/facts.php
Some basic backgrounds about Latvia Nation.
4, http://www.nps.gov/cacl/learn/historyculture/index.htm
Castle Clinton, located in Battery Park, was a official emmigrants depot from 1855-1890. Many early emmigrants came to America through Castle Clinton before Elis Island was used.
5, Powell, Kimberlly. “Castle Garden: American’s First Official Immgrantion Center”, http://genealogy.about.com/od/ports/p/castle_garden.htm
More detailed and specific information and Castle Clinton and its history.
6, Benka, Lelde. “How To Survive Winter in Latvia”, Jan.20.2014 , Nature, http://lifeinriga.com/survive-winter-latvia/
States what fabric to choose due to cold winter.
7, Rei Kawakubo interview, by Ronnie Cooke Newhouse, http://www.interviewmagazine.com/fashion/rei-kawakubo/#_
All I learned about Rei Kawakubo is from this site. I believe the best way of studying an artist is to study their quotes, especially from a interview.
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