Design Process
1. Identify the Need or Problem
The purpose of the project is to research the different culture and design a traditional clothing of the country of my choice. I know that I will be successful if I am able to show the cultures and traditions of the country I chose through the clothing that I will be design. As it said, I will try to find different cultures and traditions in order to make my design more successful.
2. Research the Need or Problem
These are the pictures of my digrams that I drew for my research. I have decided to research different cultures of the two countries: Korea and Japan. They seem to have very similar cultures and traditions, however it's just a stereotype because although they look really similar, both of the countries have their own cultures and traditions. As filling the diagrams, I decided my final culture as Korea because I was interested with the Korean traditional cloth called, "Hanbok" since the past, so I thought it would be a good choice for me to also be motivated when designing the clothing.
3. Develop Possible Solutions
I have developed my 5 different solutions and made them as a sketch. Although it's just my plannings, I tried my best to show the overall mood and composiiton of the Korean Culture, and I tried to use the colour that actually have meanings behind to the country, and the colours that represent the Culture. As you can see, the first three designs look very similar. They are the actual ordinary design for the traditional cloth that have been used since the very beginning of the Korean History. The two different designs on the right side are called "Modernized Hanbok" which the designers made the traditional dress to look as similar to the modern dresses but still keep the culture & tradtion of the country. Some people prefer the "traditional" designs, and others want a newer version of the traditional dress.
4. Select the Best Possible Solution
I chose this as my final solution because as I said, there are different types in traditional clothes which can be categorized as either the "traditional" ones or "modernized" ones. I personally really like the traditional one because it has much more meanings behind as it has been used since very old periods back in history. I also like the colors of my choice for the design, because I also included the flower print on the bottom part of the skirt and the sleeve on the arm which is the print of the actual Korean National Flowers.
5. Construct a Prototype
After I have selected my final choice from the 5 different sketches for the possible solutions, I went to buy the materials that I could use when designing for the dress. I firstly grabbed a big piece of red fabric from the class and cut some parts for myself because I knew that I would need it for the skirt. Then I found my self small pieces of white coloured fabric. After I have got some materials, I went to go get the Barbie Doll because I knew that I would need something to be holding and supporting my cloth. Firstly, I sewed the skirt by wrapping all over on the doll's waste, and it was pretty easy. Then I painted the top with the white-coloured fabric, and then cut the parts for the top front, and sleeves, and I sewed them together.
6. Communicate the Solution
I think the overall design was pretty successful. I have kind of met my goal for this project which was to show and express the theme of "Korean Culture" within my design. I think I did showed the traditions and cultures because that's very similar to the ordinary designs of Korean traditional clothing. I also did not have any parts that were damaged while and after desigining the cloth.
7. Redesign
If I were to redesign this traditional dress, I would definetely go back and put the flower print that I planned when I was developing the possible solutions. I actually was trying to make the drawings of Korean National flower, however I thought it's very difficult to actually put it on top of the clothing, so I just decided to cut off some plan. Also, next time If I have a chance to redesign the same dress, I will make the dress wearable which means I will consider all those buttons of the top and ties for the skirts when designing so that it's actually able to take off and wear it again because right now I'm literally just wrapping up on the doll.
Sources
[1] Hanbok : Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 30th November, 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok>
[2] Culture of Japan : Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web. 30th November, 2014.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Japan>
After this unit...
This unit was my favourite unit of the TDJ course. Before this unit, I actually did not know how to sew, but I learnt how from this unit, and I was also able to learn many different new cultures of different countries. However, there was some challenges I faced during the project, such as painting the fabric. I had hard time painting the fabric because it was really thick and hard to put paints on. For the next time, I will make sure I have more enough time for myself so that I can add much details onto the project.