bridging my love for the ocean, surfing and fashion
Surge
Finding inspiration in my environment.
Inspired by surfing with my Dad in Boston and Los Angeles, Surge serves as a bridge between my love for the ocean and surfing and my love of fashion design.
As someone who is trying to become as eco friendly as possible in my own life, I have noticed that a majority of the ‘sustainable’ clothing on the market today is not all that stylish or cool, and often comes with its own host of production issues.
Surge is one step I am taking to explore what a new fashion industry might look like when designers take a big picture approach to clothing design. The majority of fabric we wear today is a blend of synthetic and natural materials, although natural fibers are more appealing in name and better for the planet, synthetic materials are convenient, easily produced and forgiving on bodies. However, both are equally flawed as natural materials are expensive and labor intensive to produce, and synthetic materials create stress on our ecological environments.
I aim to create a project that opens up an informed discussion between the consumer and the designer about the process of clothing production using scuba knit as a symbol of the ultimate synthetic material and undyed wool as an iconic natural material, using the dichotomy to highlight and magnify the advantages and disadvantages of both material making processes.
Inspired by the Wetsuit.
In my research, I explored the history of neoprene and the wetsuit, and discovered that before the neoprene/rubber wetsuit appeared in the scene in the early 1960’s, wetsuits were made from wool. I was super fascinated by the fact that two materials, one so synthetic and one so natural would be used for the same purpose. And still today, surfers often use wool when getting out of the water to wick moisture and keep themselves warm. This dichotomy kicked off my material inspiration, I wanted to highlight the differences and similarities between wool and neoprene by magnifying the textures and colors of both materials.
Another material inspiration for me was the closures and patch work of the wetsuit. I drew a lot of inspiration from the way the wetsuit is constructed and used, and I used this inspiration to create modular designs that are designed for wear, tear, and repair. Ideally, this collection would last the wearer many years, and could be mended and segments replaced. Finally, any leftover scraps from the collection would be repurposed into surfboard bags and tote bags, to keep the production system as closed as possible.
Inspired by Nature.
When creating my own material swatches, I revisited the environment for inspiration and became really excited by the textural elements of the beach, and sea corals in particular. When I analyzed why I was so drawn to these corals as inspiration, I realized they both highlighted line work and 3D to 2D visualization that I have come to realize is super important to my design process. This realization led me to weaving, smocking, and shibori- inspired stitch work as the best way to manifest these 2D visualizations in 3D outcomes.
Inspired by Fiber Arts.
I found weaving a really enticing process, and I thoroughly enjoyed making my weaving swatches and pattern pieces, and would love to return to it in the future. I felt very in touch with the hoodie I was making and it made the clothing production process feel really surreal and special. It was very time consuming (the weaving alone took me around 30 hours) and was dependent on my own handiwork, but it was nice to weave as an escape during this crazy semester, as I could only engage with the weaving when I was making each piece.
Shoe Design
While I was sketching out clothing ideas and thinking about types of closures that would be comfortable and easy to use, I revisited a conversation I had with my Dad early on in my research for this project. I was asking him what he looked for in terms of clothing when coming out of the water (there’s absolutely nothing worse than coming out of cold water and into cold air and then awkwardly changing into jeans and tight socks on the side of the road) and he mentioned that shoes and socks that are wet skin compatible were super hard to find. So I designed a modular shoe that uses zippers and the buckles used on surf straps for cars to create an enduring and versatile sandal-to-boot and back to facilitate that out of the water and into the street transition.
