For my micro culture, I chose to visit Flushing, Queens. Flushing is primarily a Chinese community with some Taiwanese and Vietnamese. When I got off at the last stop of the 7 train, I was bombarded by the smell of BBQ meat and car exhaustion. The area has a heavy traffic of people who are there to shop for clothes, beauty products, jewelry, and food.
What stood out to me the most was the food. Maybe it was because I have a biased; seeing the food reminded me of home, where my mom often cooks asian food. But it’s no doubt that food is one of the biggest reasons Flushing draws tourists. So I began paying attention to sights that made Flushing different than other cultures in New York City. And then it hit me; the hanging meat. The cause of the tasty BBQ smell throughout the community.
I narrowed down the meat to my favorite meat, boneless spare ribs, otherwise known as char siu. While looking at the meat, I immediately thought, Wow that would make a cool skirt. So that’s what I decided to do.
Originally, I had planned to make the the waist one thick wire and the “meat” pieces, which are made out of cardboard, would have large interlocking pieces.
However, I changed it so that the waist would be a belt with two bands connected by smaller wire and the “meat” pieces would only have small burnt pieces because I didn’t want the skirt to be too bulky.
So I hung the “meats” onto the wire hooks
And this was the finished product
