A description of your interview subject (include subject positions they occupy – age range, gender, occupation, etc. – and your relationship to the interview subject)
This person is a female, born in 1998 from Beijing, China and currently living in New York City, she is third-year college student in Parsons School of Design majoring fashion design. She is a good friend of mine.
A summarization of your wardrobe walk-through and the remainder of the interview (ask them about items in their wardrobe and their organization – summarize this conversation in sufficient detail)
Three or more images (of your interview subject, your wardrobe walk-through, their closet space, items in their closet, etc. – each image you include should be accompanied by an explanatory caption)
When I went to her studio, the stuffed toys and displays of little colorful childish ornament really caught my eyes. This rented tiny apartment has a packed narrowed walk-in closet, her clothes are all squeezed and close to each other. She keeps her luggage and boxes on the bottom. The left rack hang with her clothes (tops), and the right rack hangs her winter outer wear garments. The shelf above the rack is a place for her hats and pants. Other than these, the rest of the space is for storage. She said that the way she put the clothes are in the order of the colors, in that way she can easily pick what she wants to wear based on her state of mind, and that way is clear for her visually. The clothes are mostly made of cotton, the texture are smooth and plain. But a few are different and interesting. One is a oversized hot pink-colored sweater made of wool, which looks really warm and fancy. The other one is a silky red long kimono, with Chinese embroidery. She got those pieces in the same vintage shop in East Village, Manhattan. When talking about the place she loves to shop, she get really excited and said that she goes to this place called “Search and Destroy” quiet often and can always find stuff that she likes. Those two pieces that drew my attention are both from that shop. She said it’s a Japanese styled place where the background music is really loud, heavy metal, sometimes is disturbing, there were lots of creepy dolls and BDSM tools and ornaments hanging from the ceiling that the owner collected and not for sale; the space is full of clothes, some of them are designer brand. She loves Japanese culture, and also because she sees lots of Chinese influenced elements in there, that makes her feel excited and familiar. The hot pink colored sweater was a gift from her friend on her 20th birthday, that friend knew her so well and bought that from Search and Destroy. And the silky kimono was a piece that she purchased by herself. Although there are a few stitches off, she still like the visual and the embroidery on it and the texture of it; that kimono combined with Japanese and Chinese culture and makes her feel happy.
The red silky kimono she purchased in Search and Destroy. (on the right side)
You will transcribe six questions and answers. You must include the following three questions:
What kinds of clothes do you usually wear and why?
I wear all kinds of clothes, it’s hard to say that I have a specific style or something, but I believe that I have my kind of aesthetic when I go out and hunt for something to wear. I love colorful stuff, cool stuff that people don’t usually wear, and that makes me feel special. I recently style myself in Japanese street-style, but mix with a little bit “me”. I also like clothes that is totally black. When I don’t feel like styling myself, I would just put on a hoodie for a oversized black jacket.
What is your typical routine when getting ready in the morning?
Take a shower, put on make up, dry my hair. and search for clothes in my wardrobe. It really depends on my mood for the colors. But for a class that I don’t do that well, I would definitely not to wear something that’s so colorful.
How have you organized the items in your wardrobe?
I’m really sensitive in colors, so I just organize my stuff in colors, like black and white in a place, and colors from light to dark in a place, and thick jacket on the other side.
Where do you usually go for shopping.
I love vintage shops, especially in St. Marks. I love Japanese culture, and I feel like that’s where I can find the purist Japanese styled clothes. Search and Destroy, you know, they even sell gang member shirt and dildos… It really opens my eyes. And there’s one on 7th street called Tokyo7, lots of vintage designer brand, cheap and cool. Other than that, I rather go online and let them ship to my apartment, easy for me. I also like to shop at Dover Street Market, Openning Ceremony, VFiles, Supreme, etc. I still like vintage place more, because you never know what you can find, and it’s fun.
What’s your favorite piece, and what do you like about it?
So far I really like the jacket I got from online recently. It’s a Korean brand called “Open The Door”. It’s from a Korean blogger I followed on Instagram. Love his style. It’s a suit jacket, the front half is a striped patterned suit, with a black or gray-ish tone, connected with black denim for the back half, there’s raw edges on the side where the two different fabric meets. This is the first suit-looking piece I have ever had. I love the design of that, and feels special and cool.
What’s your oldest piece that you keep in your wardrobe.
A light blue denim jacket. I bought it when I was in high school… My wardrobe updates quiet often, I’m surprised that I kept it for so long… I just feel like it’s comfortable and never changed how it looks, easy to match with my other stuff.
Wardrobe organization.
Her belts and chains hanging on her wardrobe door.
The hot pink sweater from Search and Destroy
Her favorite piece of garment. Open The Door suit jacket .
- What themes emerged in your dress practice interview?
- What did you notice about your subject’s daily dress practice that you hadn’t noticed before? How does their dress practice compare to yours, and how can you explain this in terms of subject positions?
- How did the interview impact your understanding of the relationship between clothing and the body?
This interview actually reflected a lot of people’s styles and the the way they choose to wear when going out, although many people I know only dress in a specific style, for example wearing all black and some would always prefer to purchase and wear branded items which are being trendy at the moment and some people would always renew and change the clothes in their wardrobe. The themes of color, texture and culture are emerged during the interview that she stated that her Asian background makes her loves the culture and the clothes she picks that has evidence of culture appears in the way she dress. The subject I interview don’t have much preference when picking what to wear, but apparently her style to me is somehow inspired by Japanese street style, a mix of Japanese vintage and street style, but in her unique way of styling, as she said, the clothes she wears are cool and childish but somehow harmonic when clothes put together. Comparing with the subject, I shared a few common points with her, that picking outfits by moods is one of it, as well as cultural influence and backgrounds, for me they are also significant and relatable. I am also a person that lived and experienced in multiple places, that these experiences have made me think differently in fashion that follow not only accept “western” but also willing to keep some traditional and pieces that I am familiar with to make me feel home and rooted. I never thought of the relationship between clothing and body. But after I interviewed the subject, I felt there’s bond between her and the culture, just like what Susan B. Kaiser said in the book Fashion and Culture Studies that “In cultural studies terms, individuals continually navigate and negotiate between processes of belonging and differentiating.” (Kaiser 2012 75) The cultural background seems to be a big part of shaping who you are and what you dress. I felt like that the subject evolves her style with version of her own understanding of culture in places and successfully shows her cultural subject position and her as a person and a designer.
In your writing, you must include at least 1 direct quote from a Week 4 reading in your post accompanied by a Chicago style citation.
