Project 1- Crafting Fashion

Research on the iconic garment

I researched on Jipsin which are Korean traditional sandals made of straw. They were mostly worn by commoners since straw was the most affordable material to make shoes for commoners. Today’s jipsin style is inherited from the joseon period. When you braid the straw, the end goes underneath your feet and twist with both hands. Also, add more straw as you braid them to extend the length.

Research on the craft media

A fascinator is a headpiece that has  a large decoration on top. It was customary for christian women in Europe to wear some kind of head covering. It started around the late Renaissance era. Today, fascinator is usually worn on special occasions in England. They are also known as Cocktail hat.

 

Exploratory sketches

 

 

Process

This is how I started braiding the raffia.

I watched several youtube videos to braid it in a traditional way and I am supposed to hold the end of the raffia with my toe and twist the raffia with both of my hands.

Final Pictures

This is my final product for this project. I added flower detail as a decoration.

Artist Statement

         Jipsin are Korean traditional sandals made of straws. Unique twisting or braiding technique is used to make Jipsin. For this project, I made a fascinator using the Jipsin braiding technique. The reason why I chose the Jipsin braiding technique is because as  a Korean American, I was not so familiar with Korean traditional garment and never paid attention to it. I learned a lot of interesting Korean traditional garment and many different techniques by researching for this project.

      Traditional way to make Jipsin is using straws. However, it was hard for me to find bundles of straws. I chose raffia instead which is easily accessible and affordable. I had hard time braiding the raffia because it has a flatter surface than straws.

       I had few different ideas with using the Jipsin technique which are making a Lady Dior bag made out of raffia, fascinator made out of plastic bags, chip bags, or raffia. I ended up making the fascinator with raffia because any of them have nothing to do with garment making technique except for the fascinator with raffia or the Lady Dior bag. The biggest challenge for me was bonding the braids together without using any hot melt glue, or super glue. I used weaving technique to bond each other and it turned out pretty successful.

       It was meaningful for me because I did a lot of research about the Korean traditional garment, and techniques that I have ever know. Also, it was an exciting experience to learn how to braid or twist the raffia with using my foot which is the traditional way. Lastly, the fascinator turned out the way that I expected.