Theme: Identity
Topic: The customs of the women in Chinese culture
Material: A piece of retro pattern fabric
This is a piece of fabric I can find in my home that I think the style is really similar to the styles of the dress that the women would wear in the prior centuries.
In Context
10 Questions
Q1: How is this fabric related to the customs of the women in Chinese culture?
A1: I feel this style is really suitable of making an outfit for the Chinese women in prior centuries.
Q2: In what forms can I make the fabric into?
A2: I’m considering making a dress of the women in Qing Dynasty or making a pair of shoes that is related to the customs of women during ancient time of China.
Q3: If I decide to make a dress, what details should be on it?
A3: I’m thinking about looking at the pictures of the clothing that the women in Qing Dynasty would wear, and make a similar dress with different patterns but keep the style of the clothing that the fabric in the front is overlapped and more conservative.
Q4: If I decide to make a pair of shoes, what kind should it be like?
A4: I would do a pair of three-inched shoes. In old times of China, women had to bind their feet when they were young. So their feet will stop growing and they had to wear a pair of small shoes that were three-inched long.
Q5: What forms can I make the shoes into?
A5: I’m considering to make a pair of normal shoes, then use bandage to bind them into a really small shoes that the normal adults cannot wear. Then the bandage can be fastened and the normal shoes’ size will appear.
Q6: If it’s a dress, how can a dress be meaningful?
A6: I want to add elements of the modern time into the dress to make a combination of the two styles. Maybe I can use the retro pattern but modern clothing style, or use the novel pattern but retro clothing style.
Q7: How can I present it?
A7: I’m thinking about finding a clothes rack that stands on the ground and putting my finished work on it.
Q8: Can I add more interactivity into presenting it?
A8: I feel putting a mirror on the collar of the dress if I am able to. Then people can see their own faces when they are looking at my work and it feels like they are dressing it.
Q9: If I make the shoes, how can I present it?
A9: I want to put it on a platform and shoot a video of the process that the shoes rebound back to its original shape.
Q10: If I do not have the patterns I want for the limited fabrics I can find, what alternative plans can I make?
A10: I can draw out the patterns like I did before. I think the result is really good to use the color based markers on the fabric.
I’ve downloaded the JPG form of my mind map, but it doesn’t seem to be clear enough. I’ve also attached the PDF form below.
