Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear by Tingyu Hu is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 A' Design Award in Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design Competition Category.
IronFashion· 2022
Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear
by Tingyu Hu
A' Design Award Winner in Fashion Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #128106The Design
About Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear
Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina presents the combination of bizarreness and emptiness of surrealism space and the delicacy of the ballerina, using apparel as the medium. The designer constructs the pieces by using bonings to build a 3D illusion, and layering various transparent fabrics are emphasizing the concept of dimension. Crafts like silkscreen and hand-embroidery are widely used in this project. Three points for this collection are illusion, space and shadow, and contrast between structure and softness.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award
Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear is an Iron A' Design Award winner, a prestigious recognition granted to good designs that meet the professional and industrial requirements expected from well-designed creations. Iron winners demonstrate great skill, high specialization, expert understanding, and creative capacity of their creators. Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished creation that is practical and innovative. This Iron A' Design Award-winning design integrates industry best practices and has competent technical characteristics linked with know-how and talent. Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina Womenswear is respected for its thoroughness and is designed to provide quality of life improvements that help make the world a better place.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
Giorgio De Chirico, 'Blood of a Poet' and classical ballet are the three major inspirations. By observing works by De Chirico, I capture the contrast of brightness and shadow, enormous environment and tiny figures, and unlimited extension of the space even she becomes a part of the painting. 'Blood of a Poet' emphasizes the theme of 'labyrinthine'. The dreamlike quirkiness of the movie inspires me to replace the main character with a ballerina. Everything in this project is the reflection of my vision.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
To avoid the literal interpretation or similar techniques of 1930s surrealism fashion, I edit down ideas that are too superficial or easy to look at and balance the fine art side and the apparel side. In this project, I experiment with a lot of draping of asymmetrical shapes and tests of fabric to figure out the best choice for a certain silhouette.
Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
De Chirico has been one of my favorite artists since the first time I saw his work in a book during high school, his unique style with the contrast between enormous space and tiny figures haunts my brain. And when I was watching 'The Red Shoes', the 'damsel in distress' vibe gives me the inspiration that I want to put the ballerina figure into the enormous space. The eerie atmosphere and the pure beauty create an interesting chemical, and these visions keep stuck in my mind that I need to bring it to the real world.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- What would it look like if clothes become the canvas or the carrier of a concept lingering in her mind? Absorbing the bizarreness and emptiness of space from surrealism art and the delicacy of the ballerina, Tingyu treated her garments as 'paintings' while combining the functionality of clothing. Layering and crafts like silkscreen and hand-embroidery are widely used in this project. Three points for this collection are 'illusion', 'space and shadow', and 'contrast between structure and softness'.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- 5 looks in US Size 4.
- Tags
- surrealism, fashion, womenswear, wearable art, storytelling, pratt institute.
- Production Technology
- Tingyu focuses on how dimensional a garment could be while keeping the balance of movement and abstraction. She uses boning to construct a 3D illusion and chooses transparent fabric to increase the layers of the garment so that emphasizes the concept of 'dimension', such as double knit layering, tulle over canvas, and beige lace over pink cotton sateen. About the techniques, crafts are always a major style so she corporates silkscreens and hand-embroidery to add some raw and playful feel to make the contrast with the strict color palette.
- Design Challenge
- To avoid the literal interpretation or similar techniques of 1930s surrealism fashion, Tingyu edited down ideas that were too superficial or easy to look at and balanced the fine art side and the apparel side. This project requires a lot of draping of asymmetrical shapes and experiments of fabric to figure out the best choice for a certain silhouette.
- Research
- Standing in front of 'The Melancholy of Departure' by De Chirico at MOMA and wondering what does it look like when is a ballerina trying to escape from De Chirico's paintings? How is it possible to add multiple dimensions to garments, like the dream world in 'Blood of a Poet'? By analyzing the geometrical elements in De Chirico's paintings and reading his artist theory, with the whimsical feeling, the little sculpture on the arm, and the contrast between the softness of pale pink and lined silhouette, the narrative is presented through every detail.
- Inspiration
- Giorgio De Chirico, 'Blood of a Poet' and classical ballet are the three major inspirations. By observing works by De Chirico, Tingyu captures the contrast of brightness and shadow, enormous environment and tiny figures, and unlimited extension of the space even she becomes a part of the painting. 'Blood of a Poet' emphasizes the theme of 'labyrinthine'. The dreamlike quirkiness of the movie inspires her to replace the main character with a ballerina.
Everything in this project is the reflection of her vision. - Project Duration
- The project finished in May 2019 and shoot in 2022.
- Operation Flow
- Tingyu creates a womenswear fashion collection 'A Labyrinthine Journey of a Ballerina' to present the quirkiness and elegance, structure and softness by using textile with the contrast of canvas and tulle, and asymmetrical shape. Inspired by surrealism art and movies and ballet costume.
- Team Members
- Fashion Designer: Tingyu Hu
- Image Credits
- Photographer: Sha Luo
Designer & Styling: Tingyu Hu
Makeup: Shiyao Liu
Model: PJ
Assistants: Xiang Cheng, Gianna Chun
Special Thanks: 19
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