When I started this concept, my main gripe was with the lack of diversity and openness in menswear fashion.
Women have inclusive fashion. But portrayals of men have not changed much. Why can’t men be free to explore and be themselves?
Men use clothes to fit into their societal stereotype and perform heteronormativity. In the society of performative gender, clothes are of dual purpose, to build up our outer shell of appearing to be masculine, and to possess the traits of coolness and strength, and to hide our true selves, masking whatever detracts from our performance, erasing whatever society deems as “inadequate”. This creates a lot of stress as e continue building up our shell but become more resignedly hollow within, as we do not nuture and let our true selves out.
Can’t we embrace ourselves?
Thus for this project, I want to design a menswear fashion show. The unique twist is that instead of men, they are human-noids with insect heads and other insect parts. But all in all they’re standing upright like humans. The insect i have chosen is the ant, to represent feeling of “antsy-ness”, of being anxious and ill at ease with oneself. Reflecting how we feel unease with our true selves when we all try to use clothing to cover our true disfigurement and using clothes to create status, in this societal and gendered performance.
Such concepts are not easy to bring up through packaging alone, thus Lisa suggested that I create a zine. The constant motif is lines in the zebra crossing. These lines dictate the societal order and structure that we conform to. In the sea of black and whit monotonous conformity, the persona walking through wonders if they can truly embrace their own self and fit in.
Because i cannot actually choreograph a fashion show, I intend to create a few collaterals for marketing purposes; a zine to introduce the concept of the show, cards, posters, billboard advertisements, digital wallpapers and mail-in calendars.
