Donghua University hosts design, fashion spectacular
A series of dresses designed with inspiration from “Butterfly Mother,” a legend of the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou Province
Fashion shows, forums and exhibitions were staged during Donghua University's weeklong celebration of the 10th anniversary of Shanghai’s membership into the UNESCO Creative Cities Network and its title of “City of Design.”
In one fashion show, 10 postgraduates of the university and intangible cultural heritage inheritors cooperated to show 40 sets of clothes. Among them were dresses designed with inspiration from the “Butterfly Mother” legend of the Miao ethnic group in Guizhou Province. The unique garments featured patterns of butterflies, flowers, birds and Miao embroidery.
“Folk culture and fashion, tradition and innovation, contradiction and integration, they look mismatched but actually are closely connected,” said Xiong Kuanyan, an embroider from Guizhou, an intangible cultural heritage inheritor and a member of a training program at the university. “I hope I can be a bridge between them as a disseminator and innovator of the Miao embroidery culture.”
Design drawings of dresses based on the “Butterfly Mother” legend
A forum at the university focused on the relationship between sustainability and fashion design, attracting government officials, fashion industrial representatives, scholars and designers.
Ye Shouzeng, an alumnus of the university and chairman of Shanghai ICICLE Brand Development Co, shared the philosophy of his company: Made in Earth.
He said the company selects high-quality natural materials and processes them in environmental ways to keep the natural beauty of its products and promote sustainable development.
Liu Changkui, deputy dean of the university’s Glorious Sun School of Business and Management, called for the understanding of a sustainable fashion value chain to utilize the potential of the whole society to stimulate individuals to embrace sustainable lifestyles.
There were also exhibitions for visitors to experience pioneering fashion designs.
One exhibition displayed outstanding works in the Asian Network Beyond Design, an artistic exhibition organized by several universities in Asia. With its “Voice of Asia” theme, the event received submissions of 852 works from more than 10 countries and 213 of them were exhibited at Donghua.
Among the exhibitors was an installation that lets visitors draw with virtual reality technology. Wearing VR glasses, users have a special stylus to draw in the air and create vivid images in front of them.
The VR drawing installation
Another popular activity was the D•DREAM International Illustration Invitational Exhibition, which invited artists from all over the world to draw in the theme of the letter “D” that represents Design, Drawing, Donghua and Dream on shockproof bags.
Organizers received 215 paintings by 69 artists from China, the US, Latvia, Australia and Colombia. When put on a lawn at the Donghua University campus, the bags looked like huge pillows and attracted people to lie on them and enjoy the sunshine.
“To enable different people to enjoy the beauty of design and realize the dream of sustainable fashion is the direction of our pursuit,” said Li Jun, dean of the university’s college of fashion and design.
Artists' drawings on shockproof bags are displayed on a lawn at Donghua University.
