New Port: Fashion Design Final Project

Currently, there are three issues happening in my neighborhood, New Port.

      First is a noise complaint issue. These days, noise between floors of apartment 

buildings is becoming a serious issue in our neighborhood.

Second is insecure Path. As most of residents in New Port use Path train everyday

         to commute to New York, the safety of path train is so important. However, there have

  been considerable numbers of accidents happened in Path train and a lot of delays.

Third is gradually increasing rent fee. A lot of international students moved in to

New Port because of cheaper rent fee compare to New York. Hence, nowadays,rent fee

is rising sharply so that it is becoming harder and harder for students to afford it.

    Also, while I was interviewing my neighborhood about the discomfort

that have been felt in New Port, I found out out that it is hard for women to

                   wear skirts in New Port because of strong wind. The strong wind comes from Hudson

              river blow the skirts inside out so women in New Port rather choose to wear pants.

Designer’s Statement

It is hard for woman to wear skirts in Newport, NJ because of the strong winds.

My design was created to prevent skirts from being flipped upside down by the wind.

The skirt’s shape is inspired by the shape of wind, which corrects the problem, but brings

attention to the issue. A model will wear the skirt on the street on a windy day in Newport,

to show it cannot be turned inside out even by the strongest wind.

3 Black&White Sketches

This is a mood board for the final design. Those are images of spiral pleats, which

represent the flow wind. I also included color palettes I’m going to use for the final designs.

Fabric Swatches & Trims

 Process

For the top, I chose blouse that has a band on the bottom side to be fixed to the body.

Also I tightened the back side to make it more fitted to the body.

Documentation of Presentation to Public

 Stylized Photo

A Climatic Influence in Jersey City- (PDF)

Annotated Bibliography (PDF)

For the final project, I wanted to not only address the issue, but also fix

the issue through the design. While I was presenting my design to the

public I could interact with a few people. They asked me what I was doing

so I explained my project to them, and they agreed with me about how

uncomfortable it is to wear skirts in New Port. It was great that I could actually

interact with people through the design. I was really satisfied with the outcome

and I think it was quite successful. The skirt was free from being flipped over even

by the strong wind.  At first, I could not understand how fashion design could deal

with social issues. However, as I researched information related to the issue and went

through the process step by step, I began to know that fashion designers also could be

an activist that speaks out the problem to the public. I really enjoyed the whole process

and I strongly believe that this would help me become a good designer that works for the

public in the future.