your ocean
thesis collection
This thesis collection is inspired by my mother's upbringing during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960's and her journey as she left Communist China to a tropical paradise in the 1990's.
Each look in this collection is representative of the different phases as she came closer to freedom. I chose to include and reference menswear as well because clothing was mostly unisex at the time. As a designer, I like to look into the traditional ways of garment construction, and my designs are always driven by textiles exploration. For my thesis, I chose to experiment with wheat-pasting fabrics: this was a technique that my mother used when she was growing up in China, where fabrics were scarce and when iron-on fusible was not available. The creative process was rather personal and I hope that this collection will touch those who have experienced similar challenges in their lives.
This collection made its 2017 NYFW debut at RISD’s Second Annual NYFW Show on September 13th at Skylight Clarkson Square, hosted by Robert Geller, Sally LaPointe, Rachel Mansur, Nicole Miller, Mike Eckhaus + Zoe Latta, Sponsored by Tommy Hilfiger.
photography: Matt Francis
inspiration
photographs of my mother
process
documentation of the wheat-pasting process
