Street fetish

I used to love street fashion but then I abandoned it all of last year and now I’m back on it again. It’s one of those fashion phases for me; I’m constantly on and off it. It’s little things like seeing 2NE1‘s fashion and their relationship with designer Jeremy Scott that inspired me to keep my sneaker collection growing with the addition of three new pairs of Adidas sneakers. Been wearing Adidas since junior high and that hasn’t stopped even to this very day. Here I am still wearing some of my favorite pairs of Superstars, the first I bought was in grade 6 and I still can fit them! It’s only a lil’ squashy but gah the things I do to sacrifice comfort for design. Even for a design that’s 10 years old, no way it never gets old! (A)ll (D)ay (I) (D)ream (A)bout (S)hoes.

Sneakers are pretty stylish with all the colors and patterns they come in. While it does seem like sneakers are a fitness thing, they’re more funky and cosy to wear casually. I went to Culture Kings recently with a fellow streetwear enthusiast friend and the whole place is just street heaven! There’s a DJ blasting hip hop music which made it feel like a nightclub. The sneaker collection there is impressive and there’s so much casual apparel for both men and women, there’s also tonnes of NBA gear. CK feels really masculine but trust me you’d be surprised that it caters to girls as much as it does for boys. The main highlight were the snapbacks, heaps of people wear them and the shop is loaded with these $60 hats. It’s a popular trend, a trend I could never pull off though. I’ll just stick to my headbands instead…

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Jeremy’s designs are out of this world, I love it.

The hearts and the pink superstars are two of my newest to the superstars fam.

The hats…the shelves kinda extend throughout the two floors of the shop.

Didn’t get this hat. Not dope enough to wear it.

Didn’t get this either but that pink though…..

My final year of Textiles

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Last week when I had dinner with a group of friends it occurred to me that I really do miss textiles and I often wonder why I don’t make time to sew up another garment. Oh that’s right, I love designing but I’m not much of a seamstress. In fact, I suck at it and don’t have the patience for it. One of my friends pulled apart her year 12 dress and made a whole new one out of it whilst my other friend is getting back into sewing by making patterns and blogging about it. It was nice to hear all of this which got me inspired.

Last year someone told me they thought my art would make good connections with the fashion industry and it made me think of how I could take my art to the next level. Also, undertaking last semester’s Ideation for the Object/Jewellery Design elective confirmed one thing: Fashion IS wearable art. It pushed my thoughts and perceptions far beyond my imagination and it has now brought me to this crazy idea of integrating my art onto clothes, literally. I’m keen on pursuing this idea as I can’t describe my love for merging art, design and fashion into one big ball of goodness. This will give me a chance to further explore textile and refine my sewing skills.

The last thing I made was a military-inspired trench coat and that was almost 3 years ago when I was completing my VCE. It felt like yesterday when I stayed back at school during the holidays and spent 6 hours working on it in an almost empty classroom. I took advantage of the textiles room every single day in term 3 by coming in during lunch breaks, staying back after school and whatnot…all in desperate need to finish this on time. My textiles teacher was kind enough to let her students in anytime, she’s the best! I loved her also because in my lowest points of making this garment she made me realize there’s always light when there’s darkness; nothing’s hard in life, only you make things hard for yourself. I hated but loved making this trench, boy I seriously couldn’t have made it any harder for myself but it was all worth it. Even if I didn’t get into Top Designs 2012 the journey was still worth it.

In the spirit of throwback Thursday, here are some sketches and photos of my developmental work for the 3-year-old trench. You’ll also notice I added some studs, of course I had to.

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Magazine Design

A handbound and handcut magazine with some hand-drawn elements. Gave myself a whole day to do this process of binding an entire mag. Clamps, foldback clips, a pencil, blocks of wood, white thread, PVA glue, scissors, stanley knives, a butterknife (to score and fold paper of course), rulers, cutting mat, and a pair of steady hands did the job. I will get around to posting more photos of the final product and an interactive PDF of my magazine soon.

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Design had evolved naturally, as a passion and a lifestyle beginning at an early age when I made trips back to the motherland, Indonesia, I experienced the surroundings and the lifestyle that was vastly different from what I was used to. I found myself passing by villages where children made their own toys with whatever was left around them; scrap metal, bits of cloth, banana leaves, and even cigarette butts. Despite this, the children were happy and proud with anything they created.

This image struck me and forever inspires me to contribute my skills to places that need it the most. Design helps me make decisions, while art helps me take risks. Both areas reward me with opportunities to create something impactful and everlasting!