Last Wednesday, the FIT Museum's "Asian Americans in New York Fashion: Design, Labor, Innovation" exhibit officially opened. Curated by graduate students from the Fashion Institute in New York (FIT), the exhibition includes fashion, photographs and videos. The exhibition is open to all members of the public and closes on March 27.
The exhibition consists of two parts. The first part shows the changes in fashion design, manufacturing and materials in New York from 1980 to 2010, while the second part explores the diverse creative thinking of Asian designers from 1950 to the present.
Entering the showroom, visitors are first drawn to Ruben Toledo's 1997 illustration The Tug of War Continues..., which shows three Asian-American designers, Anna Sui, Vivienne Tam and Zang Toi, supporting each other.
《The Tug of War Continues…》插画
Fashion students are well aware of the influence of variables such as family background, political thinking and aesthetic ideology on designer decisions. In order to better showcase the diverse creativity of Asian designers, they also planned the analysis of design elements in this exhibition. Naeem Khan's family owns an embroidery company in Mumbai, India, so elegant embroidery often appears in his designs. Mary Ping and Jean Yu, two designers who focus on sustainability, also practice their own concepts of sustainability and minimalism through primary cotton and handmade customization.
Naeem Khan，1992-1994
Jean Yu, Spring 2005 collection
Linda Kinoshita is one of the most striking designers in this exhibition. Initially, she worked in Charles James's studio. In the 1950s, she founded her own couture fashion house. On display, a sculptural evening dress with ruffles and skirt braces illustrates the influence of Charles James's design style on her. Many people may not associate Asian designers with early fashion design, but she is indeed a very research value and representative Asian designer, which also proves that Asians play an important role in the development of fashion design.
Shail Upadhya denim jacket, 1988
In addition to the diverse designs, visitors to the exhibition will also learn about the work done by Asians in the garment manufacturing industry through photos and videos. In a photograph of a New York clothing factory, photographer Harvey Wang presents the "unsung heroes" behind garment manufacturing, speaking out for the well-being of Asian-American workers. On the Yeohlee Teng brand fashion on display, in addition to the designer brand label, there is also the name of sue, a manufacturing worker.
In this way, the students hope to help people understand the contribution of Asian clothing workers in fashion creation and the high respect that Asian designers have for workers.
Harvey Wang photographs Asian clothing workers
Yeohlee Teng brand clothing with the name of the seamstress
In addition, Sandy Liang, a Chinese designer known for his mix-and-match style, and Peter Do, a Vietnamese minimalist designer known as Phoebe Philo's successor, also appear in the video materials of the exhibition. Students say Peter Do is an alumnus of FIT, and Sandy Liang's fun way of incorporating Chinese elements into creative design styles.
Thakoon Panichugul，2009
A set donated by opening ceremony
In the eyes of the students, the large and diverse Asian community has made a great contribution to the fashion industry in New York, both in terms of manufacturing and creative design. In order to allow people to truly appreciate the exquisite craftsmanship and creative thinking in the exhibits, all the exhibits do not detail the background information of the designers.
Zoe Taylor, one of the curators of the show, said: "We don't want people to pay special attention to the label 'Asian'. There have been a lot of racial incidents targeting Asians lately, but we really don't want this exhibition to give people negative thoughts. It's a space to celebrate achievements and get to know people of the same race who have made a huge difference in the fashion world. While these designers haven't received much recognition for their contributions in the past, they've been bringing something new to the fashion world. In the exhibition, one can see that these great designers behave so inclusively and diversely, both in terms of the way they look at design and the inspiration for their creations. ”WWD
Written by Rosemary Feitelberg
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