Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar by Kaiqi Zhang

Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar by Kaiqi Zhang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award de Bronz in Design de Costume Competition Category.

BronzDesign de Costume· 2026

Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar

by Kaiqi Zhang

A' Design Award de Bronz Winner in Design de Costume Category

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The Design

About Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar

Text descriptiv: Înrădăcinată într-o critică a dorințelor și a vidului care definesc consumerismul modern, această piesă folosește designul vestimentar pentru a interoga alienarea ce mocnește în interiorul bogăției materiale. Reimaginează ținuta aristocratică din secolul al șaptesprezecelea, modelând o țesătură maleabilă într-o siluetă voluptuoasă care imită un corp devorat de dorințe. O paletă de albastru turcoaz, în contrast cu roz dulce și un verde-gălbui maladiv, creează un efect superficial seducător, dar profund tulburător. Această tensiune îi invită pe privitori să contemple natura dorințelor.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Bronz

Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar a câștigat A' Design Award de Bronz, o recunoaștere extrem de prestigioasă acordată designurilor remarcabile care se disting prin creativitate, ingeniozitate și istețime. Câștigătorii Bronzului sunt artefacte din plin pricepute și izbitor de creative, care atestă experiența vastă, imaginația și resursele designerilor lor. Se așteaptă ca Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar să fie un obiect foarte apreciat, admirat și prețuit, remarcabil de profesionist și inovator. Acest design câștigător al A' Design Award de Bronz încorporează cele mai bune practici din artă, știință, design și tehnologie și este excelent prin atenția la detalii. Foam of Desire Funcție principală: Design vestimentar satisface splendid nevoile, atinge dorințele, vrăjește sentimentele și stârnește curiozitatea.

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