Yí KUàI HóNG Bù 壹塊紅布
“As a fashion designer, I like to explore the meanings of cloth through the language of clothing itself. Rooted in my interest in anthropology, social history, literature, and film, my apparel works are compulsive presentations of my studies interpreting the semiotics of dress. This collection starts out as a design studio class project in my first year of fashion school and has since continued to develop through several iterations throughout my entire time at Parsons. The original project asked students to consider a common “shirt” of their identity… which led me down a path of intense examination and serious reflection on “what I am about”. Yí KUàI HóNG Bù is the resolution of an identity crisis raised from my own becoming as a young woman of Chinese origin living in the world at the very beginning of my career and life, and it will continue to be the cornerstone of all my work.” Below is the truly special 3rd iteration of Project YKHB since its birth in 2019, also serving as costume and character design for the short film HÓNG.
Introduced March 2023
Look one (above) consists of a red Zhongshan cinched jacket and matching skirt ensemble, with embroidered “Core Socialist Values” (社会主义价值观) button details. Accessorized with mock PLA Type 65 leather belt bearing ACWF (中华全国妇女联合会) logo and a leather work satchel with wrapped leather handle details. Accompanying the look is a Red wrapped-handle Saffiano leather satchel to the right. Look two (above) is a multi-pocketed, multi-zippered, very “harmonious” (和谐) Zhongshan hooded jacket in Ultrasuede: modernized in the Chinese style. Look three and look four can be viewed as foils in a way: Look three (below) is cropped “Lenin’s fit” (列宁服) jacket. Paired with texture-blocked trousers and a contrast printed bodysuit. Look four (below) is an asymmetrical, “Lenin’s fit” (列宁服) double-breasted, belted overcoat with matching pin-tuck detailed trousers in wool satin faille. Look five is a dart-less, sleeveless, paneled sheer cheongsam in bold red silk chiffon, with traditional front closure fastened with snaps.
Referencing silhouettes, textures, colors, surface motifs, and other design details from iconic historical and traditional garments associated with the country’s “feminine” identity, particularly those seen on female revolutionaries from the 1920s to the 1950s - these nine looks investigate collective memories of a Chinese woman, reflecting different shapes of feminism across space and time - manipulating garment archetypes by juxtaposing these cultural symbols to reveal and remark subtly. In response to relevant events, this series of lookbook images created by Honglin Cai includes nine pictures utilizing Stable Diffusion to generate and replace the models’ faces with artificial renderings of fictitious identities. She is there. But she is not being seen.
Look six (above) is a color-blocked, paneled cheongsam in combinations of “revolution red” (革命红), “utopia blue” (解放蓝), and “China special yellow” (中国特色黄) sheer on top of printed chemise featuring 1950s propaganda poster of “glorious” model mothers. Look seven (below) is the Zhongshan businesswomen blazer, adorned with gleaming “Core Socialist Values” (社会主义价值观) handmade metallic buttons and “half the sky” (半边天) appliqué on the back. Look eight (below) is an oversized school uniform dress with an unremovable, non-forgettable Young Pioneers‘ red neckerchief (红领巾) collar and pleated hem. Look nine (below) is the Sheer red Zhongshan traditional shirt with five-pointed-star(五角星)-shaped “mother-child clasps” (子母扣) detail and skinny waist ties.
Yí KUàI HóNG Bù 壹塊紅布
Updated May 2023