The Withering Flower 印花纺织品 by Angela Tsai Jung Chiang

The Withering Flower 印花纺织品 by Angela Tsai Jung Chiang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award 银奖 in 纺织品、面料、纹理、图案与织物设计 Competition Category.

银纺织· 2020

The Withering Flower 印花纺织品

by Angela Tsai Jung Chiang

Client: Angela Chiang

A' Design Award 银奖 Winner in 纺织 Category

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Colors

The Design

About The Withering Flower 印花纺织品

枯萎花一系列服装构想源自于花在东方文化及文学里的含义与象征。
在曹雪芹的『红楼梦』中，花的象征比拟女性角色、十二金钗，各自的年华风情、或是花漾，或是流离。花团锦簇的盛开与枝叶的细细凋零，写照出故事里的女性在大观园里细数的光年。
枯萎花创作一系列长达两公尺的薄纱连衣裙，在半透明的网眼织物上进行丝网印刷。这种纺织技术使印花在网眼上保持不透明和弹性，从而使印花呈现在空中漂浮的映象。

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award 银奖

The Withering Flower 印花纺织品是 A' Design Award 银奖得主，这是授予顶级、华美而令人印象深刻的设计的极为崇高的认可。银奖得主是极其卓越、极具创造力的作品，展现出其设计师杰出的专业技能、才华与敏锐。预计The Withering Flower 印花纺织品将成为一件出色的典范之作，兼具非凡的专业性与深刻的创新性。这件赢得 A' Design Award 银奖的设计是一项备受瞩目、令人钦佩的发明，造福并拓展艺术、科学、设计和技术的边界。The Withering Flower 印花纺织品是一件令人羡慕的创作，它唤起渴望，带来积极的情感，并激发惊叹与赞叹。

Behind the Design

Press Kit

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

Unique Properties: The Withering Flower collection developed a series of silk screen printed fabrics and dresses. Each dress is length 2 meters long of sheer nets, composed of flower motifs with specific meaning according to its symbolism in Chinese literature. The textile printing technique enabled the binders to stay opaque, flexible, and waterproof on stretchy yet see-through nets, creating an illusion of prints floating in the air as well as tattoos on the skin when the dress is worn against the body.
Dimensions & Packaging: Long dress's dimension: W 450mm x L 2000mm
Short dress's dimension: W 450mm x L1300mm
Tags: Textile, Fashion, Fabric, Flower, Screen Printing, Innovative Textile, Central Saint Martins,
Production Technology: Silk screen printing on stretchy and see-through nets. By specific mixture of textile binder ratios to achieve the stickiness and opaqueness that the prints would secure onto the fabric surface. After silk screen printing, the fabrics are sent into baking and steaming for colour vibrancy as well as further locking the binders onto the fabrics.
Design Challenge: The research challenge appeared when I started reading Chinese literature classics, yet to organize the literary references in order to strengthen the point in the withering flower as an abject. Yet we know the decaying things meant bad luck in fengshui, but why?
The misfortune and dead are an avoided subject which I was taught since childhood. But what is shaping my instinctive judgement that withering matters repel us? Is it the knowledge passed down from my parents, or their parents, or the ancestors before them? Since when and how are our immediate responses to certain subjects are formed? Is the common sense formed in generation of cultures, through written records, spoken languages, families' upbringings that the idea of death equals taboo.

The design and execution challenge is the most struggling during the making of the textiles. Getting the right ratio for the print binder has failed several times, the paste was either too light to stay on top of the fabrics, or too heavy that the fabrics became sticky and unwearable. After many efforts on print binder ratio testing, steaming temperature experiments, baking process, and checking washability, finally came out an adequate measure that securely locked the opaque print on see-through net fabrics, and at the same time retained the glossy appearance, flexibility, waterproof qualities.
Research: The research for The Withering Flower collection began with studying the Chinese Literature classic, The Dream of the Red Chamber, a novel by Cao Xueqin, originally published in 1791 in China, later adapted and translated to English in 1987.

My research on the flower image, especially the symbolic decaying flower image in Oriental settings further developed from studying the female protagonist's epiphany, whereas the character sings, The Song of the Flower Burial, during chapter 27 in The Dream of the Red Chamber.
The fallen and decayed petals beautifully yet melancholically symbolized the female protagonist’s struggle and sorrow in an oppressed feudal aristocrat society.

As the flower is a common subject for personification in Chinese literature and poetry, the meaning each flower embodies, or given by the writer and poet, is derived from its cultural and historic values.

By first examining flower representation in Chinese cultural settings through literature works, I learnt about the principles of flower symbolism is to primarily promote good luck and well-being. And yet, the heritage-rich knowledge in measuring good fortune resulted in the study of fengshui, and it still retains its significant influence over Asian countries. There is a myth in Chinese tradition that people subconsciously desire to surround their presence with things that resemble fortune in literature meanings. Therefore the subject of a decaying flower is perceived as misfortune and taboo, in contrary to the blooming flower's meaning in longevity and prosperity.

Another example, in Chinese culture the white chrysanthemum is the flower for funeral, and would be considered as a jinx if given on a normal occasion. The number 4 has the same pronunciation as death, and is avoided at hotel and apartment's unit number, even hospital would exclude the fourth floor at flooring plan, yet skipping from third floor directly to fifth floor at building indicator maps. The number 4 is as well a bad-luck number at giving out gifts, flowers, or the amount of red envelope money at Chinese new year.

The dead flower on the body leads to taboos about mortality and loss, as even the slightest sight of a vase of decaying flower is seen as an abject, and to be avoided in Chinese culture and custom. The dilemma I experienced around the cultural responses over the withering flower inspired me to analyze the traditions and paradigms that are shaping our aesthetics.
Inspiration: The Withering Flower collection is inspired by the power of the flower image, its impact both visually and symbolically in Oriental setting.
From the flower’s precise metaphor in classical Chinese literature, The Dream of the Red Chamber, which simultaneously reflects the women living in a feudal society in the stories; to the extend of how the flowers are interpreted in fengshui as well as gifting etiquette, I was vividly drawn to the Oriental world of defining the flower visuals.
Project Duration: The project started in January 2016 in London UK, and finished in April 2016. It was exhibited at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design as my graduation collection show for BA Degree in Fashion Design.
Operation Flow: The collection's hand printed textiles are stretchy, waterproof, and remained opaque on sheer net fabrics, creating an illusion of glossy stickers floating in the air. Unlike digital sublimation printing on sheer fabrics whereas the patterns are blended into the material yet making them semi-see through, this textile collection developed a screen printing technique to keep the opaqueness and vibrancy of the prints staying securely on top of the fabric surface.
Patents: Copyrights belong to Angela Chiang, 2020.
Image Credits: Image #1: Photographer Yi Tuo/ Lookbook Stylist Zipeng Li, The Withering Flower, 2016.
Image #2: Photographer Yi Tuo/ Lookbook Stylist Zipeng Li, The Withering Flower, 2016.
Image #3: Photographer Yi Tuo/ Lookbook Stylist Zipeng Li, The Withering Flower, 2016.