Negotiated Project
FRaiLty,
thy name is WOman
Final project of MA Fashion Design Technology
and presented at the exhibition "CoExist"
in Righton Manchester, UK
" To be.. or... not to be,
that is the question."
Ophelia is the iconic female character in the classic play
"The Tragedy of Hamlet" by William Shakespeare.
In the play, Ophelia became mad out of the contradiction of love and sorrow, led to her death drowning in a stream, tragically yet poetically.
She is the symbolic icon of femininity in patriarchy world, fragile, tender, fair and honest.
She is the possession of her father,
waiting to be married off to Hamlet,
to become his possession.
Women are objects in men's world, just like Ophelia,
just a small character that only exist to foil the man: Hamlet.
In the patriarchy world, women are born to be told
to be a female, be a daughter, a wife, a mother;
and not to be dishonest,
not to be unfaithful,
not to be deflorated,
not to be free,
not to be a human.
But what is femininity after all?
Who gets to decide what women should be or not to be?
Are women just defined as Ophelia,
or is there more to be?
Referencing the formlessness of femininity,
just like ice cubes melting into water,
the pattern development of the project uses simple shapes such as circles, oval, rectangle or triangle
to test out drapes on maniquinne,
and create wavey silhouette.
Further more, as sustainable ambition,
the patterns are designed cautiously
in zero/low waste pattern.
Working with textile artist Kasha Dressler, we tested out plant-based dyes such as: red cabbage, marigold, tansy, tea, onion skins, indigo and logwood to match with the colour concept of the project. After dyeing, the fabrics (silk, bamboo and cotton fibre) are eco-printed by local sorced lavender and other flowers. All dyes were using toxic-free mordants such as iron and alum, and dyes are reused for close-loop dye.
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"She is an idol, a servant, the source of life, a power of darkness; she is the elemental silence of truth, she is artifice, gossip, and falsehood; she is healing presence and sorceress; she is man's prey, his downfall, she is everything that he is not and that he longs for, his negation and his raison d'être."
(Simone de Beauvior “The Second Sex” 1949)
FRaiLty,
thy name is WOman
:: CoExist exhibition::
21st Sept.-6th Oct. 2023
Righton Building
Manchester, UK
photo credit/ Alice Liu
curation/ Alice Liu
model/ Abbie Fowler
film credit/ Alice Liu
