Category: Studio 1

My stylish coat is basically about the five blind brothers, who were sewing workers before. Nevertheless, because of the fatal fire accident, all of them became blinds. The coat contains five different parts, which represent these five siblings. I specifically chose black for the basic color, so that it symbolizes five blinds’ views, all black and could not see anything. The front, the back, the two sleeves, and the lower part are various materials. Firstly, I cut five various parts of each clothes, and sew the leather jacket and the fur part as one piece. Next, I used safety pins to put two sleeves and the lower part together, and the safety pin indicates their occupation. For them, touching is the only way to identify the material of the wardrobe, I then used five varied sorts of textile, which are leather, fur, knit, nylon and cotton, and this idea came from the story. When they touched the cloth, they would only know the part that they touch, which are all different. They would think the cloth was made by that specific kind of fabric. However, they did not know they actually touched the same piece, but in different part with distinct material. Later, they had an argument, all of them thought they were the correct ones. Yet, they knew what was going on in the end, they should not just focus on what they touched, and they should listen to others instead. There was an interlude before the very end, which was the designer did not know which fabric should he choose, he then asked the brothers. They taught the designer their idea, and finally it became an astonishing and outstanding apparel. This incident means that even if they are all blinds, they incorporated their experience and wisdom to told the designer what should he do next. The corporation of five disable people could easily win over one smart person.

 

Bridge 4, Reconstructed Fairy Tale 

In 20th century, there was an art studio specifically worked for some less-known fashion designers. In the studio, there were around twenty people, each of them had strong passion for fashion and clothes, and the place was in a small town in Taiwan. Although these sewing workers only earned a little bit money, which could hardly let them survived, they did not care at all. Since sewing and fashion were their true loves, all of them thought fashion was always their very first place. The most preeminent workers definitely belong to the five brothers, who were working at there since they were very young, and these five brothers are very excellent. They are the spiritual figure of the studio, everybody thought they would unquestionably have bright future. Nevertheless, everything had totally changed after the fatal fire accident. Most of the workers were died, only few workers fortunately survived, and the brothers are the ones of the lucky people. Even though they survived, the God had mercilessly taken away all the brothers’ eyes, they could not see anything anymore. It was really a catastrophe to the poor workers. The eyes are the most important thing in the fashion field, which means they could no more contribute anything for fashion. All they could do was just to find other jobs instead, some of them were doing massage, translating, and so forth. On the other hand, the others were even becoming beggars. They were just living in a really boring life.

One day, there was a pretty well-known designer, Hedi Slimane, came visiting Taiwan to look for fabric. Since he heard that there were countless different sorts of fabrics in this small country, and the quality here was much better than other countries’. Most significantly, he had brought his representative work with him as well, because he wanted to add some special fabrics on it, to make it more outstanding and fantastic. It is a classic Saint Laurent biker jacket, which was firstly debutted in 1928 and Mr. Slimane brought the iconic and timeless piece back on the runway in 2013. It could be paired with different clothes in varied occasions, and has worn by countless celebrities. Those five blind brothers heard that this super renowned designer has carried this masterpiece with him, so they asked every people, who might know this designer, trying to meet this legend. Fortunately, they used their old connection to get acquainted with this designer at the renovated studio. They then immediately went there to visit this legendary person and check this classic cloth out. Finally, they arrived, and they could not wait to start touching this acclaimed and exclusive artwork. First of all, the eldest brother touched it, and said this was definitely made by calfskin, the second oldest brother said this cloth was doubtless composed by lamb, the third one said this item was obviously built by goat, the fourth brother said it was deerskin without doubt, and the youngest brother said that this piece is absolutely consist of horse. Each of them thought others were so strange and did not understand what really the fabric was. All of them have different perspectives, but they did not know everyone was touching the different part, which means they were all correct. This cloth was made by so many varied sorts of fabrics. After the designer told them, they suddenly realized the misunderstanding they made, and felt so sorry for other siblings. It might be true to what each of them says, sometimes we can see the truth, yet not all the time. Because other people may have different perspective from ours, which we cannot fully agree with. Thus, do not argue like the blind men, we should calmly listen to others’ opinions instead. Do not immediately make a decision, do attentively listen to others’ opinion.

After approximately three days, the designer was in a dilemma, he did not know which kind of satin he should use. Because he could not tell the differences amid those materials and the worse thing was his assistant did not speak Chinese. As a result, he was really confused and felt helpless. Nonetheless, he suddenly remembered that there were five professional sewers in the town, and he urgently called them for help. After they arrived, and touched countless kinds of patches, they thought about this circumstance and were discussing for a while. Finally, they then came out with an idea, and told the designer’s assistant. The assistant then swiftly sewed numerous on each part of the jacket. After it ultimately done, the designer surprisingly looked at the five blind brothers, he was really appreciated what they have done. The cloth became more beautiful, and astonishing, the outcome was pretty amazing, there was no word could describe how elegant this cloth be. It was a marvelous leather jacket, which has contained many different sorts of pattern, such as leopard, cow, python, and various shades and colors. Despite assorted colorways, they even added studs, sequins and many zippers to make it more punk. The designer was quite stunned, and he realized even though all of them are blind, their cooperation and valuable experience could easily have won over only one talented person. Just like the Western famous phrase, “Two heads are always better than one.” The designer then brought this superb artwork back to his fashion show, and all of his clienteles and spectators love the design. The cloth earned a lot of recognition and applause.

 

Bibliography

“Blind Men and the Elephant.” – Word Information. Accessed November 12, 2016. http://wordinfo.info/unit/1).

 

“ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN.” ELEPHANT AND THE BLIND MEN. Accessed November 12, 2016. http://www.jainworld.com/literature/story25.htm.

 

Eror, Aleks. “Saint Laurent Releases $10,000 Patchwork Motorcycle Jacket.” Highsnobiety. 2016. Accessed December 01, 2016. http://www.highsnobiety.com/2016/02/05/saint-laurent-patchwork-motorcycle-jacket/.

 

Phrase Finder Is Copyright Gary Martin, 1996-2016. All Rights Reserved. “The Meaning and Origin of the Expression: Two Heads Are Better than One.” Two Heads Are Better than One. Accessed November 12, 2016. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/two-heads-are-better-than-one.html.

 

@rayalexsmith. “Biker Jackets Rev Up.” The Wall Street Journal. 2014. Accessed December 01, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303370904579298732873846894.

 

Shen, Qingsong, and Willard Gurdon. Oxtoby. Wisdom in China and the West. Washington, D.C.: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2004.

After I came back from Chinatown and Fifth Avenue, I found out that these two places are totally opposite. No matter the shops, merchants, merchandise, clients and so forth, each of their stuffs were exactly varied. When I went to Chinatown, I did not feel I am in the New York City, I felt I am in a suburban city instead. It was so smelly, dirty and unsanitary. Nevertheless, it was entirely different experience when I went to the Fifth Avenue. I felt that I was a nobility when I walk on that district. Even though there was not really cleaner than China was, the feeling was quite different. I have only been to Chinatown once, and I would never ever go there again. I really dislike the atmosphere over there. In contrary, I have been to the Fifth Avenue for so many times, and I am really in love with that area. There are so many mansions, stores and department stores over there, it seems like there are every brands from worldwide. Most importantly, Barneys New York, which is my dream company, is located there. Unlike the Fifth Avenue, there were so many small shops in Chinatown. The worst thing was all of them are selling counterfeit stuffs, I really hate fake products, and I wish they do not existed. Their decorations are really bad, they just put everything all together without any order, and I felt that the merchandises were so cheap, and rough. The shopkeeper were always asking to go inside, to take a look, I really dislike the feeling. Nonetheless, this scene would not ever happened on the Fifth Avenue, the seller would gently ask us if we need help or not. Stores and every merchandises were so tidy and spacious, clients can shopping very comfortably and joyfully. Therefore, we chose to combine these two distinctive features into a display window. The left part is very crowded and messy, and full of counterfeit scarves and phone cases. Obviously, it represents Chinatown’s cluttered decoration. In contrary, the right part is pretty roomy and neat, and there are around fourteen luxurious Gucci bags. It clearly shows how the Fifth Avenue’s store displays. We chose put these two contrast features together to show how these two place displace so differently, and let different groups of clients experience other’s feeling. Personally, I do not think those upper-class people will like this design. Since they are not used to this kind of crowded design, this will definitely reduce their shopping desire and experience. On the other hand, I think those a little bit lower-class clientele will like the display. Because there are two types of array, they are used to shop the Chinatown one, but there is another now. They might think it is very fresh and cool design, they will appreciate our design. Aside from upper-class customers, I personally think some other groups of clients might like it, since it is a quite special and one of a kind design.

When we went to the forth gallery, I saw there were a lot of cotton material. At that time, I immediately recalled last summer, when I came here to take pre-college course. Last year, I took fashion communication at Parsons, my professor took us to Donna Karen’s warehouse to take a look at what designers’ storehouse would look like. I was really amazed by how many clothes there were, and it was my very first time to see a well-known designers’ depot. As a result, I remember this scene very clearly. After one whole year, I came to this art gallery, I got amazed too. Nevertheless, this time is in different perspective, I was thinking it looked so familiar with what I saw last year. Nonetheless, I saw similar things in varied places. One is in warehouse, in contrast, the other one is at art gallery, it feels so ironic. These two are very much alike, but in two entirely different spots, one is for appreciate, one is for store things. I then questioned myself what is art, it is a really difficult question, nobody knows the exactly correct answer. To a lot of people, it seems like if you clean the background up nicely then it will become an art, and that is why lots of them only think the art pieces are cool or strange but do not understand what the notion is. Everybody has different opinions, in my perspective, I think art should convey the artist’s idea, and no matter what method or how normal the material is. The most important thing is how the material and the composition could express his or her idea. Nowadays, more and more talented people are doing things that related to art, but not all of them really indicate their idea. In my opinion, some artists should step back and learn more about themselves, I personally do not think art is an easy stuff, which many people could do.

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