TH[EM]

thiện Đỗ fw22

For my senior collection, I wanted to introduce myself in a way that I never have before. Growing up, I've always hated aspects about myself (or at least, learned to hate myself due to the world views around me: friends, family, media, social "norms") that were crucial to my identity. I viewed my culture, my heritage, my sexuality, and gender identity as the bane of my existence. As someone who've always been trying to assimilate to heteronormativity and whiteness in order to please the world around me, I've never been able to express my true authentic self. These past few years, I was able to fully discover and develop a love for myself that I didn't know I was capable of. Th[EM] combines the english pronouns, they/them, and the Vietnamese pronouns, em, and is the name of my collection to reclaim my identity, my love for myself, and share my point of view as a queer Vietnamese American. In this collection, I am challenging the norms of conservative Vietnamese culture, adding my story and flare to mundane basics, and coming out of my cocoon for the world to embrace me and love me for who I am.

this is my mood/inspo board. i was really inspired by my journey of self acceptance, the idea of coldness within warmth and vice versa, feelings of being covered, yet exposed, and the yearn for love.

my illustrated line up of 4 looks.

design details:

  • white soft silks

  • warm knits

  • skin exposure

  • distress

heart dress

  • draping process

  • draping process

  • toile check

  • cowl back pattern

  • decided to change the initial design a bit and add a butt cowl.

  • new design detail

  • 2nd toile fitting

  • 2nd toile fitting with zip up shorts

  • final garment with silk print by thien do.

  • final garment with double cowl back.

  • dress on runway.

  • dress on runway + zip up shorts

zip up shorts

  • pattern draft

  • checking for fit

  • checking for fit

  • checking for fit

  • inserting zipper

  • 1st toile

  • 1st toile on dress form

  • adjusted pattern for fitting; 2nd toile

  • 2nd fitting

  • 2nd fitting

  • more adjustments; 3rd toile fitting

  • 3rd toile fitting on model

  • sewing process on final fabric - demin + leather

  • finished zip up shorts

  • zip up shorts in blue denim for look 1

  • zip up shorts in leather for look 2

  • zip up shorts in black denim for look 4

Knit Development

  • first time using a knitting machine. experimenting.

  • knit swatch for headband

  • blocking my knit swatches for arm warmer and headband

  • test for arm warmers

  • arm warmer + headband

  • developing knit for a scarf

  • heart knit development. my favorite!

  • blocking all my knitted pannels for my scarf

  • process of knitting my heart cropped tank top

  • heart cropped tank front

  • heart cropped tank back

  • sweater vest knitting process

  • distress knit sweater vest, front

  • distressed knit sweater vest, back

  • headband final knit design

  • distressed wool knit oversized scarf in look 2

  • heart cropped tank top in wool knit, distressed, look 3

  • distressed wool knit sweater vest, look 4

The Full Collection

  • Look 1

    front, watercolor heart dress in silk charmeuse with double back cowl

  • look 1

    back, zip up shorts in blue denim can be seen in back

  • look 2

    jumbo distressed knit scarf with leather zip up shorts

  • look 3

    distressed heart knit cropped tank paired with silk boxer shorts

  • look 4

    distressed wool knit sweater vest over silk unfinished ao dai button up in silk + zip up shorts in self-dyed black denim.

Runway

my collection on the runway

Video Project

i created a short video for my collection.