- On the first day (July 9), we had a small introductory session on what we’ll be ding throughout the entire program – the first was fashion design and the theme was “urban adaptation”. But each of us was given another topic and we were asked to incorporate both in our works.
- Topic I received – Assimilation, Culture Appropriation (with focus on food, Language, Music, Holidays/Rituals, Clothing/Style, Product Packaging/Retail Branding)
- So today we had a small trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Arts (MET) and Chinatown. We were asked to draw inspiration from them in designing our outfits.
- This was one of my initial sketches:
- These were a few things that inspired me:
This is is my first Idea:
This is a rough sketch of my dress. The topic given to me was Culture Appropriation and I wanted to incorporate the different symbols used in China for good luck in my dress. When I was looking at the different shops in Chinatown, I came across one that was selling multiple Maneki Neko and other good luck charms. It never initially struck me as an idea but as I brainstormed more, it developed into an idea. So, my dress has a white top that has a mandarin top collar and on the left side it’s sleeveless, but on the right side, it flows out like a long sleeve. On the top, I thought of hanging multiple coins/talismans that is considered as a sign of good luck. The skirt is going to be a traditional long skirt with a slit on the left side. The skirt will be red with gold patterns. But underneath the skirt is going to be a white leggings/a figure hugging pant with the words ‘Good luck’ written in Chinese on the exposed side only. The writing is going to be in green. The colors I would be playing around with is white, red, yellow, green and gold – as these five colors are generally used to symbolize prosperity, happiness, luck and wealth.
A picture of the talisman
My second idea is still in the works and I haven’t really sketched it as such. I wanted to incorporate chopsticks in my design. I think chopsticks would the perfect combination of incorporating Urban Adaptation and Cultural Appropriation. I would really like this design to be very simple and very eye-catching. But I wanted to create a vest using wires and create a top made entirely out of chopsticks. For the bottom, I would like to stick to a red skirt with gold borders.
