A fashion design that speaks history. Blue Ants was inspired by historical event in China, the “Cultural Revolution”. This is the year where people regardless their age and gender were required to wore blue overalls as their uniform. That’s the reason they were called “Blue Ants” by people in another countries. Those were the times where clothes have function to keep you warm but instead, they become political tools that represent fanaticism and blind obedience.
Blue Ants clothing design wants to demonstrate old fashion transformation from Mao Zedong era. Yi Yin, the designer, hopes that through this design, it connects unique political function of clothing and break the stereotypes of the old times. For the materials, Yi Yin researched a variety of interdisciplinary textile design methods, she aims to design clothing that’s both environmentally friendly and fashionable.
The redesigned dark blue fabrics for this particular project come from the old blue overalls during the Cultural Revolution. Moreover, this fashion design also uses food stamps that were exclusively available during the Cultural Revolution period because the patterns and curves on them are quiet beautiful and attractive.
The laser-cut fabric provides a 2D and 3D transformation effect, it follows the undulations and curves of the body. This project restores the sense of time during the Cultural Revolution and brings the concept of sustainability through cyanotype photography for the prints in the Blue Ants. Instead of using traditional printing machine, it uses sunlight to produce unique printing and dyeing effect.
