Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign by Kaiqi Zhang

Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign by Kaiqi Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award in Bronze in Kostümdesign Competition Category.

BronzeKostümdesign· 2026

Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign

by Kaiqi Zhang

A' Design Award in Bronze Winner in Kostümdesign Category

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Verified Award Winner
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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign

Buchtext: Verwurzelt in einer Kritik an den Begierden und der Leere, die den modernen Konsum prägen, nutzt dieses Werk das Bekleidungsdesign, um die im materiellen Wohlstand schwelende Entfremdung zu hinterfragen. Es interpretiert die aristokratische Kleidung des siebzehnten Jahrhunderts neu und formt einen formbaren Stoff zu einer üppigen Silhouette, die einen von Begierden verschlungenen Körper nachahmt. Eine Farbpalette aus Türkisblau, kontrastierend mit süßem Rosa und kränklich gelblichem Grün, erzeugt einen oberflächlich verführerischen, doch zutiefst beunruhigenden Effekt. Diese Spannung lädt die Betrachter ein, über das Wesen der Begierden nachzudenken.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award in Bronze

Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign ist Gewinner des A' Design Award in Bronze, einer hochprestigeträchtigen Anerkennung für herausragende Designs, die sich durch Kreativität, Einfallsreichtum und Scharfsinn auszeichnen. Bronze-Gewinner sind reichlich geschickte und auffallend kreative Artefakte, die die große Erfahrung, Fantasie und Findigkeit ihrer Designer belegen. Von Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign wird erwartet, dass es ein hochgeschätztes, bewundertes und geliebtes Objekt ist, das bemerkenswert professionell und innovativ ist. Dieses mit dem A' Design Award in Bronze prämierte Design verkörpert bewährte Verfahren in Kunst, Wissenschaft, Design und Technologie und ist hervorragend in seiner Liebe zum Detail. Foam of Desire Primäre Funktion: Bekleidungsdesign befriedigt Bedürfnisse auf großartige Weise, berührt Wünsche, bezaubert Gefühle und spricht die Neugier an.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Inspired by Epicure Mammon from The Alchemist, this piece reimagines European aristocratic attire from the 17th century to question the concept of decadent luxury. Using a specially engineered moldable fabric, the garment swells into a bloated silhouette reminiscent of bubbles, evoking bodies consumed by desires. Vivid turquoise blue and pink create a visual allure that is both jarring and seductive, with a sugary quality that prompts viewers to reflect on overconsumption and inner emptiness.
Dimensions & Packaging: approximately 175 centimeters high, 140 centimeters wide and 80 centimeters deep
Tags: Clothing Design, Materializing Desires, Material Experimentation, Visual Metaphor, Irregular Forms, Visual Tension
Production Technology: A specially engineered moldable fabric, adhesive when wet, allows for intuitive hand sculpting of volumetric forms. By laminating foam into the fabric and injecting air, this approach creates irregular organic bubbles with a unique hybrid texture, which is both translucent and semi rigid. When illuminated, these forms look like a second skin, materializing the concept of internal collapse festering beneath a surface of opulence.
Design Challenge: The key challenge was to lead viewers from visual seduction to psychological unease, and the answer lay in color use. A rational turquoise blue base is invaded by lush pink accents that embody swelling desires, while traces of sickly yellowish green underneath hint at decay and exposure. The contrast between high saturation and low brightness, paired with matte and pearly finishes, creates a tension between a sweet appearance and hidden unease, turning initial allure into disquieting reflection.
Research: This work critiques the consumerist era by framing its core maladies: swelling desires and inner voids. Using the structure of seventeenth century aristocratic attire, the piece presents bloated, bubble like forms that symbolize a body consumed by insatiable desires. Jarring color combinations then guide viewers from visual seduction to psychological disquiet, ultimately revealing the spiritual barrenness hidden behind a luxurious facade.
Inspiration: This piece takes its cue from Epicure Mammon, an embodiment of insatiable desires in the play The Alchemist. It deconstructs the symbolic language of seventeenth century aristocratic attire to pose a question about beauty in excess. Each element becomes a visual narrative around the body, speaking of desires that swell, promises that prove false, and the inescapable reality of decay.
Project Duration: The project commenced in October 2023 in London, United Kingdom. The initial toile was completed in December 2023, and the project concluded in March 2024 with the completion of the final garment.
Operation Flow: This work redefines clothing from a mere covering for the body into an aggressive entity that devours it. The doublet, with its dramatically exaggerated chest and shoulders, achieves a swollen, voluptuous contour that makes inner desires visibly manifest in the flesh. The asymmetrically reshaped ruff collar, when illuminated, casts an encircling shadow, mirroring the confinement in a prison built from greed and vanity.
Team Members: Kaiqi Zhang