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Womenswear

Zhe Yin

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British Fashion Council

Degree Details

School of Design

Womenswear

This project grew out of questioning Chinese women’s preference for loose-fitting, non-revealing clothing. It explores how to redefine sensuality from my Chinese heritage and perspective: it’s a story being told firstly by creating a space between clothes and body, and then by making it visible – in secret ways, in multiple senses. It is about maximizing the tension between concealing and revealing, focusing on hidden things and serendipities, capturing the ghost and playing hide-and-seek. This ambition is fulfilled by way of special printing techniques and draping methods, that hazily suggest one’s body’s profile, and an alternative way of revealing.

Journey

Scanogram

Capturing the ghost

Body profile

Non-precious gems

Non-precious gems

Serendipitous revealing

Serendipitous revealing

Square patterns & Square smocking

The final 6

The final 6

Hide — Photography by Fabio Rovai / Fitted by Ami Benton

& Seek — Photography by Fabio Rovai / Fitted by Ami Benton

“Although it is hidden, it still can be seen; although it can be seen, it cannot really be seen.”

Intrigued by the moment when body shape is hidden in baggy clothing, intangibly revealed by spontaneous drapes, light and shadow, the special textured printing in this body of work is for visualizing the space in-between and thus hazily suggesting one's body's profile, suggesting an alternative way of revealing.
This work re-contextualizes ancient Chinese cutting methods and dressing habits into modern womenswear, revealing the body in a secret and serendipitous way by emphasizing the flat terrain of cloth, the looping and wrapping of the garment, and the integrity of the untailored textile.
The interpretation of beauty in Chinese culture is more about concealment than direct presentation. A loose-fit cutting gives this hide-and-seek adequate space to play out. The hidden, food-like jewellery in this body of work is inspired by the ancient Chinese dressing habits of carrying everyday objects inside baggy clothing. This too celebrates the beauty hidden in the in-between.
colourContemporaryDrapejewelleryPrintsSecretsSensualitySerendipitySpaceTensiontextilestradition

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