Ruby Kiwinda

Tingyue Jiang, Parsons MFA "I want to make good use of my cultural background and bring more different opinions into fashion. The clothes we wear are so intimate to us. I want my design to tell people a story, and connect them with the clothes. My collection was inspired by my background in the Chinese manufacturing system, which is always stereotyped as mechanical, uncreative, and low-quality. I researched the experience of these workers: Sewers only do sewing, cutters only do cutting. I tried to work like a sewer and cutter. I sewed some bad stitches, but I kept that. I cut fabric half-way, but I stopped. I kept all the imperfect elements that happened in the process of manufacturing, because in my eyes, they are beautiful. I feel designers need more time to think and go further and deeper. It is so expensive and difficult for young designers to catch up with the speed of fashion. This high-speed industry also generates so much waste."

“I think it’s really important in the digital age to make a connection with materials and your body,” Celia voiced, “I worry about a loss of that with our screen-based life. How do you know nature? How do you know the feeling of something?” Celia’s process-led work relies on tangibility, questioning what is human and what is real beyond the physicality of an object. “IT’S EASIER TO TALK THROUGH AN OBJECT.” “The result of this artist’s work is a wearable piece that paradoxically comes from apparently useless waste. Her work illustrates a process that goes from destruction to reconstruction. It speaks of recycling and recuperating while it also has to do with taking care of the other. It is the creation of a beautiful piece out of nothing. A piece that could almost look like tattoos on a body.” http://1granary.com/schools/royal-college-of-art/celia-pym/ I am interested in Celia Pym's work because she takes plain objects such as old jumpers or old socks an...

After working in the dark room I started to have a look at the artists Elaine Duigenan because her work reminded me of the black and white photograms we were making in the dark room. "Elaine’s work takes a close look at objects. Things are never quite what they seem and her work is pared down to find singular beauty. Pale specimens glow in inky black spaces and appear to hang by a thread. There is strength and fragility, perfection and imperfection. Her work teases the viewer as images hover somewhere between quirkiness and elegance." https://www.elaineduigenan.com/about https://www.elaineduigenan.com/nylon

After the dark room induction we had to collect a range of objects to create photograms from. I chose some object that I thought would look good as they ver varying in thickness and density. The leaves gave a more of a faint look where as the chain created a very bold and harsh result. I was really pleased with the results from the photograms of the chains as I though they looked really striking and cool.

So today I went out to see if I could catch anyone who was wearing socks so that I could take pictures of them and ask them about why they wear them.   Will Kang, 19  "I love wearing my red socks because I feel like it makes my outfits more vibrant and fun - also red is my favourite colour. I usually find the best ones in places like Urban outfitters or Topman." Colin McGregor, 20 "I have always been very into accessorising and I love the way that socks can make a smart outfit look slightly more casual. I think wearing a bright pair of socks can make an outfit look more fun and quirky." Chris Kavana, 22 "I always try and wear socks that are a bit different because I think it reflects my colourful personality"

Laura Callaghan has always been an artist that has inspired me so when I received my brief I instantly thought her bright bold use of colours would work well with the red socks. This illustration below really inspired me to do some of my own illustrations of socks as on of the girls she has drawn is wearing red socks. Through drawing the socks myself I gained a better understanding of the simple shape and structure of a sock. I also experimented with different patterns inspired from the socks I found on the Hysteria website.  http://www.lauracallaghanillustration.com/

After researching what is available to purchase online I wanted to look on social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram so that I could get a better idea of how people are really wearing and styling the trend. I did this by using the hash tag   #redsocks on both of the platforms. After gathering this research I realised that on Instagram a lot of the pictures that people were posting were of themselves wearing red socks and black and white Vans. Vans have always been a skating shoe which I found quite interesting because it completely contrasts the previous research that I did online where the red sock trend seemed to represent luxury and femininity. This shows that red socks and socks in general can be used to portray several different meanings/interests.