Rachela Tiody
Major: BFA Fashion Design
Hometown: Jakarta, Indonesia
This collection is essentially a memoir of my time during the pandemic quarantine. I wanted to immortalize this heartfelt experience I had with my six roommates. The quarantine we expected was terrifying, boring, and confining, but what really happened was the exact opposite. It stimulated all kinds of excitement and quality time we never expected. Three major aspects of our quarantine were: us (seven Indonesian girls), our hair – all the hair we shed and cut, and the furniture we abused with our overcrowding and overuse. So this collection is my way of telling that story.
I had trouble relaying the story in the beginning because I wasn’t sure how I could share something so dear to me in a way that would do it justice. In the end, after my trials and errors, I looked into Indonesian furniture to develop my silhouettes and designs. The Indonesian furniture I specifically looked into was Rattan and from that, I developed a knotting technique using tube yarns and macrame cords. I also referenced draping from designers like Ryan Roche and The Row to help with the fluidity of my sketches – I specifically wanted the fluff from the tube yarns and the garments loose with lots of drape to convey our time at home bundled in blankets and pillows. I designed a print derived from the overlapping strands of hair that would regularly be plastered on the shower walls from all my roommates. For the colors, since we were stuck at home, I decided to take a picture of my wardrobe and select colors from my own clothes to create the color story for this collection.
Patric Wang
Major: BFA Costume Design
Hometown: Jilin, China
To accompany Rachela’s concept of quarantine and staying at home, I wanted to create something that looks comfortable. Rachela mentioned one of her problems with staying at home is that having long hair can really get in the way. It inspired me to create some kind of hairband that is comfy, neat, and can control long hair. I chose to utilize felt, a natural fabric that looked cozy and comfortable, just like her collection concept. I shaped the felt using steam and spent the most time molding and sculpting felt to create the perfect fit. In the final design, I extended the hairband to add an actual brim to it which allows me to create a more interesting silhouette.
Photographer: Nicole Anthony
