Athena Chen

This year, in the graduating class of the Department of Fashion Design at the University of St. Martin in London, there was a low-key first prize winner, Jim Chen-Hsiang Hu from Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Different from many fashion designers in their personal style and popular culture perspective, Hu Chengxiang believes that the mainstream clothing industry for him, just reuse the existing design elements, too nostalgic and narrow. Entering the clothing design department, in the face of current consumerism and the low-quality fashion value system, his question is: What can a piece of clothing represent? What new possibilities can be found through design? What is the contemporary nature of itself? Adhering to the deep thinking and high consciousness of things, Hu Chengxiang finally conducted a deep confrontation between himself and the outside world through amazing graduation production. "Tea" (XI) Photos Courtesy of Mick Abela & Jim Chen-Hsiang Hu has a nuclear energy engineer's father. He has been raised by many popular science books and magazines since childhood, and he has always been a great scientist. The attraction is always filled with a lot of cool things. When I was young, I thought about becoming a scientist who can make all kinds of things. Such a worldview can be deeply felt in his rigorous design and production methods, such as scientific experiments, as well as in the logical inferences of creative ideas. The two seemingly conflicting things of creative thinking and rigorous thinking, but also in Hu Chengxiang's works, can see the different possibilities that can be produced during the rendezvous. The Turning Project Images Courtesy of Jim Chen-Hsiang Hu The eye-catching three-dimensional structure of his graduation work is derived from his first year of St. Martin's "Driving Project" (The Turning Project) homework. Through that assignment, Hu Xingxiang tried to explore the causes and consequences of constructing the world's human affairs; and he also believed that modern people rarely think about how things around them evolved into what they are today, and only accept what they can perceive. Representation. Hu Xingxiang interprets the line and fiber as the particles and structure of the clothes. The wire mesh forms the mesh of the body. The shaped wire presents a confusing texture, symbolizing the existence of the object, but not directly through the senses. In order to expand and transcend the imagination of the self and the external material world. The Turning Project Photos Courtesy of Jim Chen-Hsiang Hu The sample of the work that was completed at that time was put on hold in the Hu Chengxiang room, and he began to think about it if he was so unclear. Surrounded, it will break the boundaries between the clothing itself and the outside, and produce unexpected visual impact. In order to make the previously shaped wire into a more varied structure, he refined the way in the design process and developed a "3D Weaving" technology system. The technology, called "X" (XI), has a certain connection with the "system" that makes up the fibers or wires in the fabric elements - a system of fibers or wires can be seen as a garment. The English translation of "XI" also means "X", which represents the two-dimensional image of fabrics and fabrics. The "I" is the symbol of Hu Chengxiang's own "textile". The other dimension of the production tradition is added. In Hu Chengxiang's graduation work, a three-dimensional grid that looks like a light and full of fluidity is created by "X" (XI). It extends from the model and the unclear boundary line touches our inner perceptions. In turn, it has shaken the specific cognition of itself and the surrounding, and has inspired a curious and imaginative "unknown field". At the same time, it also reflects the vitality that lies in the body and the visual image that emerges. "Case" (XI) Photos Courtesy of 1 Granary When it comes to "3D Weaving", it is also reminiscent of the popular "3D printing" (3D...