Ran Gao (She)
I used to study fashion and textile design at Glasgow School of Art, which pays more attention to self-directed study, pattern cutting and creative processes. As for my interests, doing research is one of my favourite parts in that I can learn lots of history, culture and contemporary design, which could broaden my horizons and practise my critical thinking, keeping me learning and exploring the world. My master’s project is about folding garments, which explores minimalism in womenswear, folding the superfluous parts.
Folded Garments Research
I thought about lots of things when I was planning my travel packing, for instance, What kinds of things are important to me? What do I need most from all these things? Why did I choose to buy them? How to create minimalist life? Minimalism is commonly referred to as simplifying the complex and pursuing the original essence of life. Therefore, I did some research about minimalist fashion designers, such as Jilsander and DZHUS (Irina Dzhus). As regards the concept of liberating from the complexity I learned, then, I did some attempts to fold the superfluous parts.
I have searched how to fold garments to make better use of the space and used striped garments to do folded research. The first and most obvious change is the interaction and direction of these strips. In my master’s project, they were designed into striped patterns and also developed into fabric. The second is the silhouette and structure that formed in the process of being continuously folded.
Colour and textiles
As regards my travelling to Iceland, I photographed the houses and then did some translations in colour and texture like colour wraps, drawing and fabric transformation. While doing the colour analysis, I found that the surfaces of these houses have raised striped textures, for instance, I used an a4 paper to show the structures in their enlarged state, and then pleated the fabric to show the structures from a distance lookup. Therefore, I decided to explore the striped textures further. I photographed the surrounding things that could remind me of the striped textures of the house surface in order to enrich the translation of striped textures, such as the food and textiles in my daily life and the structure of construction in the city centre.
Silhouette Exploration
I tried to work with the body regarding the folding research, wrapping with the human body by adding cotton wadding. I want to give it a sense of warmth and protection, like houses in Iceland, where the garments could provide warmth and shelter.
