Samantha's Brief:

A wearable rotating piece capturing the themes of self-identity and culture. 

The project captured the work of Marka27 and specifically his mural called Queendom. Most of his work relates to cultural expression. His work also captures the clear divide between someone's internal cultural identity and what they choose to show to the world. Meet The Queen is a wearable designed to capture both aspects of identity and make the act of opening up in the control of the wearer. Marka27 also uses geometric shapes to frame the subject of his art. 

Two rotating triangular pieces of wood serve as frames, inside of which bioplastic material is collaged with fabrics, colors, animal prints, and other design elements abstracted from the mural. The triangular frames are attached to a rotating bolt on a sturdy belt. When the pieces are in the upward position, the model's face is mostly covered, representing privacy and self-reflection. When the triangles are moved to the outward pointing position, they frame the upper half of the model's body just like in the mural. The final position, in which the triangles are pointing downward to create a skirt, is for when the wearer is confident and ready to show their whole self. The goal of this project is for anyone who wants to witness or demonstrate different sides of their culture and identity. Included in Queendom are aspects of the woman's African-American culture such as animal prints. These aspects are also included inside the bioplastic triangles placed to show her hiding some of these parts of herself.

Jacob Creem: Exploding Shoulder is a fashion wearable created from a plain white T-shirt decorated with an intricate mix of media that envelop the right shoulder and left waist area of the shirt in a colorful frenzy. The inspiration for the wearable comes from a beautiful mural by Felipe Ortiz in Central Square, Cambridge. Ortiz's work plays with the contrast between dark and light colors and juxtaposes chaos and complexity with calm, simple motifs.

Exploding Shoulder was created to emulate the way a scene of chaos obtrudes on a calm setting, represented by the plain white T-shirt. On the top right shoulder and bottom left waist area, a great web of patchwork, trim, and hem creates a cacophony of textures and colors that seem to overwhelm the shirt. Ranging from felt to linen and velvet, the fabrics are handmade in multiple designs. Some reflect the curved lines of a dream catcher, while others are woven in complex patterns such as an Egyptian knot. In an effort to stabilize these fabrics and those protruding from the shoulder and waist, a melted acrylic mold was made to form around the body and hold the fabrics in place. In addition, cardboard linkages with fabrics draped and stitched around them give the wearable an element of motion. Paired with the intricacy of the stitched fabrics, the movement of the wearable immediately draws attention to the chaos of the shoulder and waist enveloping the white shirt. The hope is that Exploding Shoulder can serve as a memento to the immediacy and vibrancy that street art, unlike museum art, has to offer. Street art inspires and Exploding Shoulder aspires to do the same!

Part art form, part commentary, fashion is a public-facing billboard for our self image, political views and creative individuality. Synchronously, street art has been a medium for artists to reach the public sector in an uninhibited and sometimes confrontational manner. From Banksy’s murals to Mademoiselle Maurice origami cranes on the walls of Paris, to formal and informal street art in our towns, street artists use the unconventional as their canvas and in doing so incite controversy, awe, humor and pause.

In this studio, students will research and explore local street art, learn about the artists (if possible) and messaging as inspiration to create “Street Couture,” or high fashion architectural wearables which interpret the artist’s work. Students will explore their local street artists in Central Square in Cambridge and Karakoy in Istanbul and engage in a rigorous conceptual and material exploration to form architectural wearables. 

Samantha's Brief:

A wearable rotating piece capturing the themes of self-identity and culture. 

The project captured the work of Marka27 and specifically his mural called Queendom. Most of his work relates to cultural expression. His work also captures the clear divide between someone's internal cultural identity and what they choose to show to the world. Meet The Queen is a wearable designed to capture both aspects of identity and make the act of opening up in the control of the wearer. Marka27 also uses geometric shapes to frame the subject of his art. 

Two rotating triangular pieces of wood serve as frames, inside of which bioplastic material is collaged with fabrics, colors, animal prints, and other design elements abstracted from the mural. The triangular frames are attached to a rotating bolt on a sturdy belt. When the pieces are in the upward position, the model's face is mostly covered, representing privacy and self-reflection. When the triangles are moved to the outward pointing position, they frame the upper half of the model's body just like in the mural. The final position, in which the triangles are pointing downward to create a skirt, is for when the wearer is confident and ready to show their whole self. The goal of this project is for anyone who wants to witness or demonstrate different sides of their culture and identity. Included in Queendom are aspects of the woman's African-American culture such as animal prints. These aspects are also included inside the bioplastic triangles placed to show her hiding some of these parts of herself.

Kata Khakali

The opposing concepts of movement and stillness are difficult to combine in a work of art. Transcend is a mural by Cedric Douglas and Julia Roth, on the Green Street Garage, in Central Square, Cambridge, that does so beautifully. Its many colorful geometric shapes on the parameter contrast with a black-and-white still portrait of an African-American female. Vibrant colors create the feeling of movement and positivity, while the still portrait invites contemplation: a unique combination that immediately catches the eye.

Inspired by Transcend, Hurricane Dress was designed to capture this contrast between movement and stillness by evoking the natural phenomenon of the calm, still eye of a hurricane. On the top and bottom of the dress, swirling shapes, traced specifically by the map of hurricane Maria.  The shapes smoothly transition to a tight corset that is slim-fitting that represents the eye of the storm. Hurricane Dress highlights and celebrates the difference between the aspects of life directed toward chaos, and those that create peace.  Even though the two concepts of movement and stillness are the complete polar opposites and the individual dealing with these two traits might feel confused or overwhelmed, but they have the ability to combine them to form a beautiful creation. 

Annika Hardy
The Hurricane Dress: a wearable sculpture inspired by the shape and nature of a hurricane. While the top and bottom of the design are busy, layered and mobile, the center of the garment acts as the eye of the storm and stays still, calm and stiff.

Inspired by the mural Transcend, painted by Cedric Douglas and Julia Roth, the Hurricane Dress explores the sense of calm in chaos, created in the mural through the contrast of a vibrant, colorful, geometric pattern with a still, realistic black-and-white portrait of a woman's eyes. The pattern seems animated and moveable while the woman's eyes appear calm and static, with the movement and stillness playing off each other. The Hurricane Dress aims to capture this effect of stillness within a chaotic environment. Hurricanes are defined by their high winds and chaotic movement that circle around a static, calm center known as the eye.

In the wearable Hurricane Dress, the contrast between movement and stillness is made through having a flexible top and bottom of the garment with a fixed middle. This effect is achieved by having large pieces of Rowlux, a stiff material used for diffusing light, cut to resemble strong winds or severe weather on the top and bottom of the outfit that move back and forth as the wearer walks. The calm middle of the dress, the "eye of the storm," is created with a tight corset in the center of the sculpture that stays put while the rest of the piece moves around. While wearing this dress, the model may feel centered and chaotic at the same time, showing that sometimes the tension or opposition between traits can be what makes them work well together.