Two different designers from completely different backgrounds and experiences confronted with opposite words which represents the contrasting experiences that not only shape us as designers but shape who we are.
Website: https://mccam707.wixsite.com/txunconventional
(This paired project consists of designs by Hsin-Roe Pan and Mikki McCann. The designs pictured above are by Hsin-Roe Pan).
Fashion is a constant push and pull between the traditional and unconventional. As easily opposing forces, these two concepts allow designs to build upon each other and create something new. In this partnered project, Hsin-Roe chose to focus on the word “traditional” while Mikki studied the word “unconventional,” and then merged their own conceptual variations of the words to create a compelling collection.
As Hsin-Roe first began researching the word “traditional,” she recalled her aboriginal Taiwanese heritage and its designs and motifs used in traditional garments. In addition to this, she was extremely interested in the aboriginal glass beads of the Rukai tribe of southern Taiwan.
The Rukai tribe live in the Southeast of the island of Taiwan. Because of its equatorial latitudinal location and Taiwan’s tropical climate, the Rukai typically wear light cotton garments adorned with intricate embroidered patterns (mainly using black as a base color) as well as shells and other trinkets. To bring the Rukai style into the 21st century, Hsin-Roe manipulated fabric swatches to mimic the traditional motifs and designs.
Mikki was pleased to work with the word “unconventional,” as she often likes to break the norm with her fashion forward designs. To her, what’s unconventional is the thing that makes everyone turn their heads and stare in disdain or disbelief, like kissing same-gender partners in public, or showing parents a new hair color or piercing.
In order to convey her vision of unconventional clothing, Mikki worked with nude and black patent leathers to demonstrate a skin-tight look that usually has negative social implications. She also liked the idea of using black industrial belts to tie together her looks as it formed a bondage-type look that sustains the uniformity of the pair’s overall collection, so she created swatches that demonstrate the interaction between the belts and the patent leathers.
To illustrate their traditional and unconventional perspectives, the pair chose an overall color palette of black and orange to create the contrast of a dark muted color against a strikingly vivid color, the same way their words contrast each other sharply. They then worked to research their opposite words in different aspects that resonated more with themselves. Because Hsin-Roe looked towards spacesuit design to convey her sense of “unconventional” and Mikki researched the history of tailored suits that she recognized as “traditional,” the overall collection became more of an interesting intersection of four distinct concepts rather than two. The final collection features tailored suits, the Rukai totem of the Hundred Pace Snake, and aboriginal Taiwanese glass bead patterns to represent the word “traditional.” Along with this, the black and nude patent leather and the pleats and different connections found in spacesuits illustrate the word “unconventional.”
