The concept that I chose for my final design focuses on noise. While exploring Chinatown, I noticed that many vendors tried to draw in customers by talking to them as they walked by on the street. Their main purpose was to grab the attention of someone walking by. However, there were so many things going on that it was hard to just hear one thing at a time. The garment I designed takes the idea of blocking out all of the surrounding sounds with a large wrap or”headphone” like structure, and it shields the eyes and nose from view. There were many unwanted smells in the area, along with a visual overload of items everywhere I looked. Instead, the main focal point is the megaphone that surrounds the mouth to amplify talking. This way there are no distractions from anything other than trying to persuade someone to buy something or to come into a shop. Plus, the enlarged ‘earmuff’ shapes would prove that the wearer wouldn’t care about anything other than getting out there message and almost spreading the word. Advertising for their shop would be the priority, not listening to anything else anyone has to say to them.
The headpiece would connect to the rest of the bodice, too, with all of it flowing together. It would be a neutral color like black or grey, as not to distract from the megaphone/mouth area.The mouthpiece would be a bright red with a pattern, standing out against the rest of the garment even more since red is the color most people notice first. Red is also lucky in China, and would symbolize good luck for getting a customers attention. It could possibly draw in more people, too, for how visible it will be compared to the rest of the outfit.
