003 → FASHION DESIGN

Costume Designer/Maker: Beini Li
2022 Self Learning Project

The theme of the first project is irrelationship（= pseudosexual intimacy）, because I found that in China, when you reach the legal age of marriage, you will be arranged by the family to go on a blind date. People don't believe in true love and think marriage as a business. But many women do not find themselves in a predicament. I think it is because of the brainwashing of society and TV dating programs since childhood, which makes girls have unrealistic yearning for marriage, and they want to be a perfect woman considered by the public when they grow up. 
So I write a story. In the story, the girl who yearned for love saw her grown-up self in her sleep, and was forced to form a family with a man who couldn't get along. The two were entangled by the red thread that means blessing for marriage. Being entangled more and more tightly in an unhappy marriage that cannot be escaped.
Because the story takes place in the girl's sleep, the white skirt refers to the silhouette of the nightdress. In order to create a dreamy feeling of entering a dream, I used a fabric that can use the switch to control the fabric emit white light in a dim environment. 
I made a pannier who made of fishbone and wire, and wrapping red strips outside of it. In front of chest also wrapped with red cloth to make a 3d
overlooking. I mainly want to show the suffocation of women life after marriage. Red, which symbolizes beauty and allure, makes girls hopeful for married life, but after putting on the clothes, they discover the truth of marriage.
The man is an incompetent, often disappearing figure in marriage. Therefore, the male clothes mainly reflect the virtual feeling. I extracted mosaic elements and applied them to the suit, and the face was also covered

“NIANSHOU”

Costume Designer/Maker: Beini LI
2022 Self Learning Product

I think of the memories of the Spring Festival when I was a child, and I miss the festive atmosphere at that time. So I wanted to do this project to show the good memories of that time.
I reference the legend about the Nian Beast in Chinese mythology. The Nian Beast is a legendary beast that would harm the people during the New Year. Until a god beat the Nian Beast away, everyone found that the Nian Beast was afraid of loud noises, red and fire. So the customs of setting off firecrackers and pasting Spring Festival couplets have been preserved. From this, two images of the Nian Beast and the god were designed.
I extracted many traditional patterns for secondary creation. Then extracted the Chinese characters in the Spring Festival couplets, Then I did a profile experiment based on the shape of the characters. Then as the plot progresses, the clothes will change, so I divided the clothes into many detachable pieces, which can be pasted on the clothes randomly on every place. The headdress of the Nian beast uses the scraps of firecrackers, and pastes a large outline with a lot of colored paper, and then create the Nian image that I imagined Refer to the development process of the dragon dance image.