The Shape of God
Tied directly to her faith, Haemi Lee, B.F.A. Fashion Design, has based her collection on religious experience. “The Shape of God,” a collection of seven original pieces featuring extravagant pleating and vibrant hand-painted fabrics, handles faith, an often delicate topic. A collaboration with Claudia Ayleen Nicholas, B.F.A. Textile Design, the collection is a result of their own relationships with religion and shared perception of God.
An Oakland native, 23-year-old Lee was raised in a Christian household, but truly began her religious journey when she was in the transitional child-to-teenager stage.
“I met Jesus when I was 12, and my relationship with Him has just developed more from then,” shared Lee. “I’m born-again, so I became Christian.”
Citing one of her original inspirations as the traditional Japanese Butoh dance, Lee tied it into her relationship with religion. “It taps into this visceral state of mind and subconscious, and it got me thinking about my dream state, which is so often tied to God,” she explained.
From that point on, Lee moved her focus to her religious experience.
Through working on this collection, Lee felt she grew closer to God and herself in relation to Him. “He’s a divine being, almost incomprehensible… [the collection] represents the pinpoint of where it all expands,” she said.
Making sure she doesn’t diminish anyone’s experiences, Lee clarified, “I’m not doing this collection to change someone’s perception of [Christianity] because if you have negative feelings, I don’t want to invalidate that. Religious trauma is a real thing. God is such a personal experience. A lot of people who are proponents often don’t live their lives according to the morals of the Bible, and that’s really unfortunate.”
Lee’s choice to use cotton and common materials considered “cheap” represents His humility as represented in the Bible. “If I want to expand upon the divine nature of God and what he means in relation to me, I want something grand,” explained Lee.
She utilized large, extravagant silhouettes and pleating in her collection to depict Him folding in upon Himself, representing minimizing “something so infinite into something understandable and digestible to the fallible human.”
Cited as a vital inspiration in the duo’s collaboration is textile artist Susan Maddux, who creates hand-painted pleated art installations. Maddux makes pleats in large gatherings of fabric and hangs them on the wall. When planning her collection, an instructor recommended Nicholas’s skillset and works to Lee, as hand-painting and dying fabric is difficult to take on alone. The two came together and bonded over their shared religious inspirations and experiences, creating this collaborative and colorful collection.
Her use of transparent fabrics on the outer layer of the silhouettes implies that
especially in vulnerability, there is still a need for protection. Her lightly saturated red
inner linings provide that internal coverage and protection for the victim. That also
means that in the time of abuse, their internal emotions and personalities are exposed.
The materials she used for this immense interpretation includes chiffon, transparent,
and sheer fabrics. The restricted, and uncomfortable looking necklines are also included
to captivate the emotion through the clothes.
Other special elements you can expect to see is her incorporation of Chinese
shadow puppets and knots. “Such a design integrates historical and cultural elements
into modernity, highlighting the cultural background and the individual’s inner
struggles,” says Jiang. “Growing up in China I got inspired by so many things, but
coming to the United States has given me the confidence to stand and speak up about
these issues that really matter,” Jiang says. Jiang possesses the capability to transform a
comprehensive story for every collection she owns, and takes pleasure in fusing various
textiles to produce eye-catching and captivating prototypes. This Spring 25 collection is
Dongying Jiang’s take on fluffy silhouetted transparency.
Words by Bela Cole, A.A., Fashion Communication and Styling
Runway photography by Ed Jay.
Conceptual Makeup Lead: Chelsea Mari Heintzman. Hair & Makeup Team Produced by Brandi Moore Agency. Lead Hair: Brittany Jordan. Lead Makeup: Lilia Christo-Ferrigno . Makeup Product: Morphe.
