Briah Taubman
Carolyn Colsant
Integrated Seminar 2
May 2, 2018
Cross-Course Reflection
Short Bio: I, Briah Taubman, am an 18-year-old girl from Southern California and my major is fashion design. My whole life I have expressed myself through some type of art form whether it be drawing, painting, or clothing. In the next few years I hope to meet new people who have to same interests that I do and leave with a foundation strong enough to thrive in the fashion community.
Summary: I have gained several new skill sets that I never even knew were a possibility before this year such as, wood working, wire sculpture, adobe illustrator, and much more. Even though I have learned all these new skills, I have a common theme surrounding my work which is a sense of lightness and playing with lines. In my first semester (in my Space and Materiality class), I made a chair out of wire1, where I chose to create a textile of my own for the seat by manipulating thin wire into little squiggles, which played with negative space and gave the chair a sense of airiness. Then this semester, for my elective I took a class called [un] Fashion, where were tasked to each make 12 garments (1 garment per week) and for several I played with lines/embroidery and transparency. Lastly for my Integrated Studio 2 class, I curated a photoshoot of me being tied into my beds which was covered in white and I played with the twine and the lines and folds that it created.
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Two Highlights:
Planning:
For this project, we were tasked with creating a silkscreen print. I sketched several ideas but the idea of New York being the “city that never sleeps” really stuck with me and this was the main inspiration.
Outcome:
The outcome was a pair of denim jeans and tube socks that I screen-printed my design on to.
Thinking:
I loved the outcome of this project because it was the first article of clothing that I had part in designing. I also thought it was very my aesthetic in the way that it was playing with font and the stereotypes surrounding New York.
Planning:
For this project we are only given one week to create and produce the project so there is not much time to think. To produce this product, I had to sketch my idea, purchase the fabric and then sit for countless hours making the garment. For this specific item, I created earring using wire, along with hand sewing and embroidering the pants.
Outcome:
I loved the garment and hope to produce more like this.
Thinking:
I was very proud of this project because of the amount of time I had to produce it and it really worked into the common them I have of transparency and playing with lines.
Conclusion: Coming to Parsons as a fashion design major, I was definitely intimidated because of the reputation that Parsons continues to have in the fashion industry. I also knew that receiving my acceptance letter did not mean I deserved to be in this school it just meant that I had the opportunity to prove myself to the rest of the world. Working at Parsons thus far has been an unbelievable experience and I can only imagine what else it has in store for me. For the next three years I am going to challenge myself and explore new mediums in the art world. I wan to walk away from my four years at Parsons knowing that I have attained all the information that was provided to me.
