Final Paper Proposal/Topic Choice

my mother (left) and her friend in her college, Xinghai Music Conservatory, 1985

This photo was taken in front of a wall of red brick in my mom’s sophomore year in her college. On the right, it is her friend, Chen Lin, who later became a singer.

I chose this image because I found their clothing quite minimal in terms of color yet still remain stylish, incorporating some kind of design twists. The white or black and white outfits were considered very stylish back then. My mother’s sister and Lin’s sister brought the pieces from Hong Kong to Guangzhou for them. I can see the Western influence on their ruffled blouses and the silhouettes of the pants and skirt. My mother’s friend passed away when I was a baby. I found this photo very precious and memorable.

I also pursue a quite minimal style in my daily outfits, which one can easily tell by knowing my favorite brands: Celine by Phoebe Philo, The Row, Raf Simons, and Jil Sander.

Model in Carolyn Schnurer’s white oxford cloth shorts and top with white cord passementerie and scarf by Vera, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar Cover, June 1950

I find this image interesting because the model is wearing beachwear yet you can’t tell that she is by the beach or not. She is in this arch looking at somewhere far away. I like the aesthetics of the photography as well as her outfit. Although wearing all white, she is accessorized well with a red scarf draping from her breast (which seems unusual), a brown belt, a straw hat with scarf underneath. She seems to be happy about the place she is looking at.

As for its relationship with my personal style, I wear all white outfits and beachwear quite often. I am very into the vintage, minimal, iconic, and classic looks.

Cross-Course Reflection

Bio

Here is Tianni Yun, or Dolly from Guangzhou, China. I studied Fashion Design for two and a half year in my high school in California before I came here to Parsons. Despite my interest in Fashion Design, I am currently majoring in Strategic Design and Management.  Welcome to my first-year journey at Parsons!

Similarities and Differences

Some themes and working methods in my different classes are connected, which enhanced my overall learning experience here. For the very first studio project of my first semester, we were asked to create our timelines in creative ways. It is a project that is quite personal. It asked me to reflect on my past experience and get creative while expressing it. I experienced similar process when I was writing reflection posts for my seminar class in the same semester. Later in the first semester, for my ESL 1800 Advanced class, I was also asked to write a paper about where I felt my home is. In these projects and in my daily life talking to different people and learning different things, I always look back and think about my past experience, and how it has made me the person I am today, as well as what I want to speak to the others in creative ways.

Although my major is BBA, I still enjoy spending time sewing and in the fashion design world. Thus, I incorporated sewing technique in one of my projects for studio class in the first semester. I re-created an outfit that I got from a thrift store. This semester, I got to sew more since I am taking Integrative Studio: Fashion. In that class, we mostly did group projects, just like the studio class in last semester. As a group member, I try to always reply in time and communicate effectively with my groupmates. It is tricky to work with different people sometimes. We all have different perspectives and methods of doing things. I found dividing the work according to different people’s strengths and communicating ahead and regularly very helpful. I am glad that I had this experience because I can work better with groupmates in the future and am more ready for my future work that requires group working.

In my Drawing class this semester, we used Illustrator and Photoshop a lot. Similarly, we used video editing software in my Time: Embodied class in the first semester. I only knew the basics of the software before I came here, so drawing class was extremely helpful. We went through the process of creating specific visual effects such as using a scale to self-created compose an image. I wish the technical aspect is more addressed in my Time class though.

My drawing project done with Adobe Illustrator

I love connecting my academic studies with my studio making. Reading and writing helped me better understand the cause of my creative work.

Highlights

I wrote about why fashion brands and influencers should be more honest about their business partnership to the public and why people should care for my seminar final paper. It can definitely lead me to further research as my continuos participation in the industry, such as attending fashion weeks, interacting with brands and bloggers, and interning.

 


Becky Li’s Cooperation with BMW

 

For the final paper that I’ve mentioned above, we were required and guided to do a lot of research and preparation, including weekly readings, research tables, an Op-Ed article, and image collecting. Looking into Chinese blogger, Becky Li’s cooperation with BMW was part of my research. I did not get to this until the last week before the paper is due. If I have a chance to do it again, I would try to outline my entire paper earlier. That way, I would have in mind what materials to look for and thus did more effective and relevant research.

This is my first time spending about two months on a paper. Except for what the research and writing have taught me, I also learned to improve my time management. As a long-term project, dividing tasks into smaller ones and complete what needs to be done in each week is a very effective way. Every seminar class in the past two months helped me pace myself. I have more confidence in planning long-term projects on my own in the future.

In order to prepare for our studio project in last semester, we went to Washington Square Park to do interviews with strangers. Surprisingly, it went quite well. We had fun and gathered information from them.


Interview in Washington Square Park

Based on our conversations with them and their background, experiences, and stories, we designed this fictional brunch for them.

We feel that in New York such a fast-paced city,  where people usually do not really bond with or care about people around them. Everyday, in Washington Square Park, people just pass by without getting to know each other. People may never see each other again in their lifetime. If people are more willing to take the action to speak to strangers, or are willing to have serendipity, there may be so many interesting and moving experience. People would actually love it. Thus, we imagine ourself as an event planning company who caters a brunch party for all the people that we interviewed.

We imagined to have all the people who we interviewed to the brunch and give them a chance to know each other. We designed their plates and cups according to their personality, hobbies, experience, and by our understandings of them. The colors, imagined texture, and figures on the plates and of the tableware are reflections of the interviewees. Everyone gets a unique plate, which also comes with a cup and a sleeve that has a portrait of him/her. On the other side of the cup sleeves, there are their quotes or short sentences that represent them.

I think we as a group worked very well together on this project. We communicate well in progress and got feedback from each other. We also divided tasks such as designing the table, designing the cupholder, creating portraits. This project means a lot to me because it is inspired by people who we actually met, and address an issue in the context of New York City. It is both pretty and functional.

Conclusion

The projects I did today could generate other projects in the future. For instance, I could do another project inspired by talking to strangers in NYC. I could also try publishing my final paper about the transparency of business partnerships in the fashion industry, writing to brands and influencers, and see it as a standard when I start my own blog or brand.

The critiques in my drawing and fashion photography classes opened my eyes and led me to my interest in the appreciation and spread of arts in different countries. I am thinking about how I can participate in the development of the aesthetic education and gallery planning in China.

I would love to continue my practice with Photoshop and Illustrator, as well as other Adobe software. I am also very excited to learn more about the business and management side of the fashion industry.

Op-Ed | Fashion Bloggers Faking It As They Make It

NEW YORK, United States — It is no longer a secret that quite a lot of fashion bloggers buy fake followers. Realize it or not, so many other things about a social influencer can be faked, too.

In the world that most of the people would not bother to look closely, faking facial appearance, body image, show’s invitations, and even social status and recognition get easier and easier for bloggers.

A friend of my friend said it was her dream to one day attend fashion shows and fashion week. To someone who has never been to one, fashion shows may seem unreachable. However, getting into one is a lot easier than you think.

It is not that difficult to sneak in or to sit at the front row (especially in NYFW, the non-haute couture shows). Just like Amy Odell, who wrote Tales from the back row: an outsiders view from inside the fashion industry. When She firstly started as a fashion blogger for NYmag.com, she was nobody and was assigned to the back row.

However, just like it is easy to sit in the front row, especially when the show is about to start and the front row is still not full, fashion icons such as Anna Wintour and Rachel Zoe are not that unreachable.

Still, when it’s not their day, chances are bloggers tried and flexed and still failed to sneak in. In this case they would usually wander around the venue the get “street style photo” snapped by street style photographers or the photographers that they bring. That’s why quite a lot of bloggers, and even smaller celebrities, who are not invited to the fashion shows, have photos of them “attending” them. And this happens every fashion week.

Bloggers’ posts of their street style photos and of the fashion shows make people think they get invited to the show, and are well recognized and liked by fashion, and usually luxury brands.

Now things have to do with data and the digital world are even easier to fake. While faking to get invited is surprisingly common, everything you see online – a blogger’s followers, comments, amount of reads of their posts, and even the amount of clicks on their links can be fake.

Example of a suspicious follower growth chart

While top fashion media like Business of Fashion, or Vogue, only have 10 to 200 shares of each post, some bloggers easily gain hundreds or thousands of shares and comments under their posts.

And you think the fashion brands are unaware of this?

Sometimes even the people who work for fashion brands help bloggers fake the data. Bloggers want money, they want to get their job done, and their bosses want pretty data. It looks like a win-win.

Think about it – are we living in The Truman Show?

by Dolly Yun

March 26, 2018 10:07

Object Analysis-Flyer Designed by George Haas

Description:

Process:

  1. Substantial analysis: This flyer was projected in 35mm slide format originally, yet is now displayed on a canvas. Its size is slightly bigger than a printing A4 paper. It probably weights similar to a normal drawing canvas in similar size. It looks like it is enlarged from the original film to a canvas, so it is in an almost brandly new condition.
  2. Content: This flyer was designed for the Club 57 event on Feb 5 at St Marks Pl. It was to let people in New York back then to know about the event. There is a spider in the middle of the spider net in the middle of the picture. There are the $1 price on it, the artists’ names, “Club 57”, and the location.
  3. Formal analysis: It is a 2D object, in black and white, re-created (probably printed) on canvas.

 

Deduction:

Purpose:

  • moves from the object itself to the relationship between the object and the viewer
  • analyst contemplates what it would be like to use or interact with the object
  • if a photograph or other representational object is being used, analyst contemplates what it would be like to be transported into the depicted world

Process:

  1. Sensory engagement: If I am in the world of this picture, I would be in the middle of darkness with some small flashing lights. I would hear the spider crawling, and may feel the texture of spider net.
  2. Intellectual engagement: It will be at night. The spider is working on weaving its net.
  3. Emotional response: The image of spider and the net triggers my curiosity to look at the words on this flyer.

Speculation:

Purpose:

  • the analyst now moves completely to the mind of the viewer

Process:

  1. Theories and hypotheses: Why did George Haas chose spider and net for this event at Club 57? How do they relate to the artists and this event (if they do)?
  2. Program of research: There is no further document or analysis online about this particular piece. However, I think that the way the spider weave its net is connected to the way artists in the event create their art. On the other hand, animal symbol was a trend back then, just like Christy Rupp’s “The Rat Patrol”, so Haas might have thought about it when he created this flyer.

 

Christy Rupp

This is Christy Rupp. You can call me Christy. I’m an American. I started to live in lower Manhattan in my 20s. I’m turning 69 years old this year. I always had strong interest towards visual art. You can tell about my  fields by knowing where I went to study. I went to Colgate for University. After that, in 1974, I spent a year in Rhode Island School of Design for my M.A.T.. In 1977, I pursued my M.F.A. degree at Rinehart School of Sculpture in Maryland Institute College of Art. In that year, I started to have my work publicly shown and known. My first work was the Rat Patrol. I know a lot of artists and probably many of you use social medias such as Instagram, I do too, but I never really post my work on there. If you want to look up my work, you can always check out my website.

If you see me at an exhibition opening, you’ll probably see me wearing a colorful, statement necklace from my necklace collection. If it is freezing, which often is the case here in New York, I wear colorful scarves a lot too. I dress up a little bit for formal occasions such as openings. A dress and a statement necklace, or a crop top with jeans are just perfect. I’d like to keep my outfit comfortable and simple, and of course, easy to work in.

Back to my experience, after I finished my study at MiCA in 1977, I had exhibitions in early artist run spaces. We, a group of aspiring artists, illegally occupied the building belonged to the city and had our Real Estate Show. I was a part of the explosion at that time and participated in artist generated activities, including Collaborative Projects, Group Material, and Artists Call Against US Intervention in Central America. In the mid 1980s, I turned my attention to global ecological problems, for example, agribusiness and water contamination.

A lot of my artwork are inspired by animal behavior, such as The Rat Patrol, The Deer Museum, The Dog Show, and “Animals!”. Ever since I moved to the city, I was an impressed rats observer. I loved to think about their behavior, population movement, and social pattern. We all know about the garbage strike of 1979 that happened not long ago. There were piles of garbage accumulating, making certain areas infested, where rats considered as their territories. I started to paste lifesize rat images to mark areas that were infested, not to defend the rats, but to point out that we have created habitat for them and they would occupy it. It is just a way that the city ecosystem works. It is a result of its delicate balance.

When I have interviews, I always call myself an eco-artist, because urban ecology is also a big part and an inspiration of my work. I have work related to ecology such as H2O and Mountain River. I connect and speak to the current world with my work. In terms of materials, I have always worked with organic ones, and will continue to do so, but the most important thing for me during this whole process is to create things that are educational and inspirational. I always question myself about if my pieces teach people something. It is important for me to have my work being meaningful.

2018 will be another year for me to keep caring about issues happening in the current world, especially ecological and animal related issues as always. I am excited to explore more possibilities from my past work, such as The Aggressive Geese, and The Rat Patrol, and create brand new ones. Some galleries and museums in New York are discussing and planning a few exhibitions with me in later this year, so stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

“Bio.” Christy Rupp. Accessed January 28, 2018. http://christyrupp.com/bio/.

“Christy Rupp.” Wikipedia. January 23, 2018. Accessed January 29, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christy_Rupp.

Morgan, Tiernan. “Christy Rupp on Rats, Geese, and the Ecology of Public Art.” Hyperallergic. April 18, 2016. Accessed January 29, 2018. https://hyperallergic.com/179810/

christy-rupp-on-rats-geese-and-the-ecology-of-public-art/.

Pearson, Erica. “Artist turns chicken bones into pseudo-skeletons of extinct birds.” NY Daily News. May 11, 2010. Accessed January 28, 2018. http://www.nydailynews.com/

new-york/artist-christy-rupp-turns-chicken-bones-pseudo-skeletons-extinct-birds-article-1.447568.

 

Bridge 5: Final Self-Assessment

In this semester, I always take the benefit of seminar to reflect, document, and give myself critique on the projects I have done in studio class. If I don’t have seminar but only studio class, perhaps I won’t take as much time reflect on my projects. Having this opportunity, I now have many writings that I can look back to, that reminds me of what I have done well and not so well in each project. When I work on a new project in the future, I can be more aware and do better. For example, keeping time management in mind from my previous reflection motivates me not to procrastinate in my future project; knowing that working with a group is not as difficult or chaotic, and speaking to strangers can actually inspire me so much, I will be more brave in the upcoming projects in group working, and trying out new things. In short, reflecting on my previous experience working on project, I can continue my advantages and improve on my disadvantages.
Practice makes perfect. I definitely became better at reading and writing. If it were not seminar, I won’t read this constantly. I’m thankful for the weekly reading assignment, not only because I improved my English reading skills, but also because I found some intriguing and inspiring readings that I enjoyed reading a lot. They indirectly inspire me working on my studio projects too.
My perspective changed as a result of my experience in studio and seminar classes. I did not really like working in groups before because I was scared of irresponsible group mates. If my group mates are not engaging or participating actively, I would have to do all the work and struggle a lot to communicate with them. Luckily, my two group mates, Nora and Jasmine, made the group working not so scary for me. They participated in every process. We brainstormed together in each project, bouncing ideas off on each other; we would go thrift-store shopping with each other for our project and exchange our opinions; we respect each other and communicate often during the progresses. Ultimately, I feel blessed that I got to know them as friends.
The assignment of writing the short story was the most challenging one to me in terms of designing the plots. We each have our own idea and were trying to incorporate all of them. At the same time, it also needed to be a short story, so there should not be too many complicated plots or we will not be able to finish the story in such a short length. As a result of group discussion and feedback from our professor, we eliminated some too dramatic plots, such as Imani, the main character, killing her husband in the end. From this experience, I have learned about my strength to come up with ideas and brainstorm in group, and actively communicate them with my group mates. Sometimes my ideas inspire my group mates, so we came up with a new proposal as a group. I feel like I can still improve on time management, so that both my group and I will be even more prepared for the deadlines, and will have more opportunities to adjust our work before we submit it. I knew I had passion for fashion before. My experience of studio and seminar classes reinforced this. I incorporated sewing and fashion elements in several studio projects, and when I reflect on them in seminar, I became clearer that I want to continue designing and sewing as a hobby. What I like about the studio project is that we can incorporate so many different things that we feel passionate about or are good at, such as digital design, laser cut, painting, sewing, and so on. And we can later know our passion better when we are writing reflection papers for seminar.
As a result of my work during this semester, I will continue to pursue strategic design and management in the following semester. We did some strategic design in studio class, and I enjoyed working on them. I also can’t wait to work in fashion studios to design, sew, and create garments and accessories just as a hobby. From my journey this semester, I will keep in mind to constantly document and reflect on my work. Being organized will me my portfolio making a lot easier. Moreover, documenting my projects can be a form of art that I can continue explore and discover my passion. I can be more creative when I document my work in the future, with not only my writings, but they can also be drawings, podcasts, and all other different forms. I would like to explore more on this idea of using different forms to document and reflect on work.

Bridge 4: Redesign of Magazines

For our last project of the semester, Bridge 4, Jasmine, Nora, and I decided to recreate existing magazines in order to express our opinions and raise awareness for different topics, such as feminism, racism, the diversity of beauty, as well as including over-photoshopped magazine editorials and the unhealthy pursuit of way-too-slim bodies in the fashion industry.

I incorporated different techniques such as sewing, burning the magazine paper with candles, and collaging in my work.

My work:

Jasmine’s work:

Nora’s work:

Brunch Square-Our Bridge 3 Project

For this project, we went the Washington Square Park as a group and interviewed more than 10 people. Based on our conversations with them and their background, experiences, and stories, we designed this fictional brunch for them.

We feel that in New York such a fast-paced city,  where people usually do not really bond with or care about people around them. Everyday, in Washington Square Park, people just pass by without getting to know each other. People may never see each other again in their lifetime. If people are more willing to take the action to speak to strangers, or are willing to have serendipity, there may be so many interesting and moving experience. People would actually love it. Thus, we imagine ourself as an event planning company who caters a brunch party for all the people that we interviewed.

We imagined to have all the people who we interviewed to the brunch and give them a chance to know each other. We designed their plates and cups according to their personality, hobbies, experience, and by our understandings of them. The colors, imagined texture, and figures on the plates and of the tableware are reflections of the interviewees. Everyone gets a unique plate, which also comes with a cup and a sleeve that has a portrait of him/her. On the other side of the cup sleeves, there are their quotes or short sentences that represent them.