Stranger to Ourselves ~ inspiration and concept images ~

these are my concept and ambiance books made in year 2007 for my third year collection ' Stranger to Ourselves '










and 
i would like to re-present them to you.

about... Stranger to Ourselves

following the foundation of suspending dress
i then developed the concept of 'suspending' and put it into this later collection.

it was a collection based on two important themes - shadow and 
stages of life

shadow was implicated through the act of suspending and draping technique
whilst,
the stages of life was linked through three colors of the collection - white, red and black which was inspired very much by the works of edvard munch (which i will talk briefly in the next post!)

concept images

  

    
   first stage

      white

     | experience | 

     second stage
  
         red

        | passion |

           third stage

           black

             | intimate |

behind my concept ~ shadow ~

shadow

have you ever notice the existence of your shadow ?

i can't remember how and why i came across it but i'm just so glad that i did.

it was during my second year.
we were given the freedom to choose-your-own theme/concept for your collection.
i was really struggling.

 
but i can't remember how and why i came across it but i'm just so glad that i did.

i could recall myself

wandering in the street trying to take like, hundreds shots of people's shadows;

standing in the sun trying to trace the movement of my own shadow;

straying myself in the library looking for and reading philosophy-theory books


those were the days .


☆☆☆ ☆☆☆ ☆

have you heard of a classical story Peter Schlemihl, the man who lost his shadow?



if you like reading classical stories you might have read this.


here is the story if you haven't heard so.

Peter Schlemihl

(( One day, Peter, a poor boy is approached by a ‘grey man’ who makes a proposition with him. In exchanging a magic purse which will always be full of gold, Peter has to trade in his own shadow. Suddenly becoming wealthy, Peter also becomes unhappy. People are repulsed by him because he has deprived his shadow. Peter then had a chance to retrieve his shadow when the ‘grey man’ proposes another deal by having Peter’s soul on his death. Resists to do so, Peter then throws the magic purse away. He has saved his soul but lost his shadow. From that moment on, he lives in isolation.  ))





 
behind my concept
 
what is apparent to extract from this story is that the purpose of basing the representation on the shadow; turning its transition from unimportance to valuable. 

the shadow is an irremovable ‘prototype’ but undetectable for us. from this perspective, I looked into the concept of personal shadow of consciousness.  

the attitude and relationship between the shadow and its owner is significant. it is through the shadow that we could find and define our identity and embrace our body.  

shadow gives us weight and three dimensionality.

without shadow, we would become insubstantial. shadow is a stranger to us; but also a representation of our soul and the imperfections within us.

humans are not structural and available without shadow.

to discover individuation and what is important to us, i had applied shadow as a vital object that we are incapable to lose. 

attaching and suspending on our body to protect it, my garment is a very straightforward symbolization and expression of my thoughts and how we should tried to keep and hold on still to our shadows, not wanting to lose it ...


→ → → → → → →→→
 
i had also exploited this story, applying it into my first original shadow concept 

- suspend -

suspending dress

i had create a dress itself as an implement for shadow.


 

suspending dress

... you are wearing your shadow, 

... you do not want to lose it.




 









the front hem was elongated, falling and laying like a shadow.
 
indeed,
this long piece of fabric was intended to play the role of your
shadow ; then suspended (hanged) onto your body.


fun fact - it could actually work as a scarf couldn't it ?