Escapade: An Abusrd Journey
Fashion Designer: Shuwen Yang
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Escapade: An Absurd Journey investigates the concept of “Absurdity” originated from French philosopher Albert Camus’s essay The Myth of Sisyphus. The idea of absurdism refers to the state when “reality is irrational and meaningless.”. The notion of fantastical transcendence had led me to see the human body beyond traditional classification of age, gender, and race, but rather a transformable structure that can be stretched into living sculptures and imaginative creatures. Fictional characters such as Don Quixote are one of my key inspirations in which he lived a farcical yet extravagant life without succumbing to mundaneness and typicality. As within this collection, creating garments that are unconventional in material and creative in silhouette pinpoints its unusual nature that differs from conventional and industry standards apparels—an array of Avant-Garde wearables, that builds personas’ for the wearers. Inspired by fine art and art history, some of the garments drew references from historical art masterworks , including the imagery of performance work Dialogue by Marina Abramović and Ulay in look 1, and the depiction of Bernini’s sculpture Anima Damnata (Damned Soul). Originated from a series of handcrafted techniques including tufting, embroidery, beading, pleating and coiling, the material development for this collection stemming from countless layers of yarns, threads, pleats, bonings and bindings. A large portion of the raw material was recycled from fabric scraps and leftover yarns from past projects.
For look 1 and look 6, I’ve adapted a carpet making technique(tufting) into my own design language by incorporating various types of yarns such as boucle, chenille, raffia, eyelashes, and faux fur into the textile. Under my fine art experience on painting, I treated my material as a way to illustrate a pictorial world under the ethos of ‘paint with textiles’. I’ve also embellished the surface with beads and gemstones for a shimmering effect.
For look 2 and look 3, I’ve developed a coiling technique that shaped the fabric into specific creature and character designs. In look 2, the fabrics were gathered from scraps and leftover prints. Inspired by Chinese frogging closures, I transformed all fabric into stripes then stitched them into bindings, and coiled them densely into organic shapes. Some parts are inserted with copper wire so it can come apart and morphed into different forms. Look 3 was constructed from over 100 yards of hand-pleated organza. It was later hand painted with fabric dye.
Look 4 was shaped from inserting fishing lines densely into nylon mesh.
Look 5 was made by cutting cotton buckram on spirals and free draped the shapes around the body. Rigilene boning was applied in certain parts for structural support. The fabric was then hand painted with a mixture of fabric dye and resin coating.
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Fashion Designer: Shuwen Yang
Photographer: Flora Yang Feng
Model: Kiara Simmons
Makeup Artist: Siqi Rong
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Dress: Designed by Shuwen Yang
Gown: Designed by Shuwen Yang
Jacket: Designed by Shuwen Yang
Pants: Designed by Shuwen Yang
Shoes: Personal property