Fragments of my Final Semester
This series of digital collages is about capturing that mix of exhaustion, frustration, and victories through intentionally fragmented imagery, reflecting how this semester felt – a collection of disconnected moments. I wanted to show the messy in-betweens – the physical labor, the emotional weight, the quiet frustrations, and the sense of personal defiance. Ultimately, this project is about the compartmentalized parts of the fashion design program from my experience – what happens behind the scenes and how all those pieces come together to form this series. It is not meant to tell a clear, literal story, but rather to convey a specific mood, a moment in time, or an emotional state. Each collage reflects the different layers of my experience.
This collage is based off the many hours it takes to be a senior fashion design student completing their final collection - how the long hours make the days blend dully together. I took a picture at some point in my day, every day, for two weeks when I was in the sewing lab; the camera in the same spot. I timed the hours I spent in the sewing lab during those two weeks, totalling to 156 hours within two weeks; I digitally layered each photo over each other and put the numbers 156 faintly in the background.
This collage is inspired by how I compartmentalized my projects and constant muslin test fittings. I was sewing, test fitting with my models, and making corrections in a long cycle until to designed fit was perfected. Here I am depicting how I was viewing my garments during this stage of the design process.
Here, I drew inspiration from how much work fashion design students labor with their hands for long periods of time. We use are hands to draw, trace, pin, cut, fold, sew, etc. all day. This collage layers multiple students hands in different uses and positions amidst working. In the middle are two hands holding each other, to display m sentiments that even though we exhaust a lot of manual labor, many students connect in this shared space and experiences.
This collage depicts a very personal experience of mine, my senior year in the fashion design program. I had a male professor who disliked my collection concept based on dress norms and codes in society, and how they unfairly and negatively affected women. I got directed negative comments as I stuck to my decision of this being the basis of my senior thesis. Through this collage, I displayed not only my frustration, but I also selected pieces of emails this professor sent me regarding my topic and myself personally. Somewhere he stated he has "only seen me design crop tops and mini skirts", so I added previous designs of mine that are not those onto the paper I am holding - as proof I have designed more than what he claims.
This collage contains all the added art mediums I added to my designs: airbrushed graphics, studs, embroidery, and metal hardware. I made an abstract composition through the combination of these different art mediums.
With this final collage, it depicts the freedom and creative expression I experience with fashion design outside of the university's fashion design program. I participated in an independent grunge fashion show, and I enjoyed the freedom - it gave me a different perspective of the fashion design world, than the one I was used to within school.