Space & Materiality Subculture Wearable Object

 

For this project I began by asking myself which subcultures I fall in. I never really thought about myself falling into these specific groups until now. I created a Venn diagram, showing larger subcultures that I associate with, and narrowing them into smaller ones.

I decided that the two I wanted to focus on, which are also closely intertwined within my life, are the subcultures of being a photographer, and of being new to living in New York City. With those both in mind I had to think of a piece which shows off aspects of each subculture. I had trouble thinking of how to turn these subcultures into something wearable, because one is a different art medium and the other is about a physical change to my environment. I kept thinking of this from a fashion standpoint and I was stuck on ideas. I then realized I had to remove myself from thinking that way about the project, and think about it in a way that I am used to, as a photographer. It was then I decided I needed to do a piece that incorporates my photography, but the next question I had for myself was, how?

I thought of the piece as I would a regular photo, in a rectangular shape, that would fit almost like a poncho of sorts. For this, I drew inspiration from the Pierre Cardin exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. I enjoyed the way he used geometric shapes on the body and had the models (mannequins) posed in a certain way to accentuate those shapes. If you were to look at one of his pieces with the model posed differently, it would completely change your view on the whole thing. For my piece I was most inspired by this dress of his.

I then had to think of how I was going to incorporate my photography with that rectangular shape of clothing. I thought back to the very first photography project that I ever had, back in middle school. My teacher had asked us to shoot double exposures around the town our school was in, with pin hole cameras. It then clicked  for me, I was going to figure out a way to show a double exposure on clothing. I know the school has fabric printers so I knew I could utilize them to show my actual photos on a piece. I thought of the rectangular shape again and thought of the idea to use the movement of the piece to show the double exposure. With putting my hands to the sides, like the Pierre Cardin dress, I’d show one image in the middle. On the other side of the piece, would be a double exposure of the original photo, plus another photo combined. With movement it’ll be made evident that the piece is showing a double exposure, I’d just have to bring my arms forward and cross them, covering the original photo and revealing the double exposure on the back.

Next, I thought of combining the subculture of being new to living in New York City. I wanted to take photos around my new neighborhood, Stuyvesant Park, to put onto the piece. With this aspect, it brought the story of my wearable object full circle. I wanted to show the story of how this first photography project was the start of my passion for an art form that has gotten me to be able to live at this place, still as a photography student, but now at Parsons.

I took photos around Stuy Park and thought of different aspects of the park that I could show. I shot it from all angles and covered almost every last bit of it to use for this project. My first draft of the photos were not strong enough conceptually, so I decided to shoot again with the idea in mind of showing a larger shift in the images from the front to the double exposure on the back.

For the next set of images I decided to look at the park from two views, the outside looking in and one from the inside of the park. The first image is of the fence, as anyone walking by the park would see it. Next, is the monument inside the park, to give context to where the images were taken, but to also show the park as it is from the inside.

With the shift still not being prevalent enough, I decided to add some color to the double exposure on the back and keep the image of the fence in black and white. I added an overlay of the color green, because the majority of the park is green due to the trees. I finally hit a good spot which showed a shift between the two images. I then sent the picture to the fabric printers so I was able to begin on the sewing process.

I went to the fashion district to pick up a white cotton material for the rest of the garment. I picked a slightly thin white so that it moved easily in the way I wanted it to when I closed my arms. Next, I cut out pieces of the fabric, two that were 12inx24in for the front panels, and one that was 24inx24in for the back, all with a 5/8 in seam allowance. I got my printed fabric back too and cut the double exposure photo in half for the back panel. After learning how to use the regular sewing machines, I began to create the piece.

It came together fairly easily at first, since I had prior sewing knowledge with the industrial sewing machines. Once I thought I was almost done, I tried the piece on and realized the arms didn’t close correctly and my measurements were off. The wingspan of my arms were too big and I didn’t account for that with how the piece was going to function.

I spent the next class tearing out almost every seam I had done the class prior, and adding on more white panels so that it was large enough to go fully across my arms. After doing measurements I saw I needed to add 14 inches to each side, so to keep the symmetry of the piece I cut four more 7inx24in panels and added them on. And finally, the piece was finished.

For the performance aspect of it I thought the best way to show it was to spin fully in a circle so that the whole class could see both sides, then to close my arms and spin around once more so they could see the transformation.

Overall I think for my first garment, this was successful, and also showed both of the subcultures I am in well. I really like the finished product of it and it seems like something to me, that could be actually worn out by someone somewhere. I had ups and downs in the creation of it and many set backs but I’m happy I kept to my concept and continued on with it although it faced me with challenges.