Ammie Liu
Wings
Class of: 2027
Major: Communication Design BFA
Medium: Wearable Installation
Faculty: Aviva Maya Shulem
Prompt: Create a wearable art piece out of bristle or other kinds of paper.
Inspired by bird hats during the Victorian period, I decided to create a wearable piece that echoed not only the relationship between humans and nature but also the relationship between women, their social class, and fashion. During my research, I noticed that the bird hats became extremely adored in Europe during the Victorian period because people during that time believed “a woman’s head was in the middle of her body, and society had the appearance of an extravagant fancy ball.” However, research has also showed that these fancy-looking hats had brought a lot of pressure and burden to the women. It was noted that the women had to kneel down when riding carriages wearing the bird hats because they were too big and too heavy. Hence, instead of portraying the bird wings in my wearable piece as something soft and feminine, I decided to make my structure sharper and bolder through the outlines of the wings and the tessellations on them.