ANDROGYNE

2016

Various Dimensions

polyester, wire, plastic tubing, live models

filed in: 2016 Fiber Garments

Designed for my fourth-year thesis collection, Androgyne is a small collection of garments designed to explore the interaction between gender and fashion.

A black and white image of a figure at the end of a fashion runway with an audience of people on either side of it. The model's face is obscured by a sequin covered mask and a wears a black and white outfit that exaggerates the bicep and thigh muscle areas of the model.
A black and white image of a figure walking along a long fashion runway with an audience of people on either side of it. The model wears a white coat with a large stuffed boa-shaped neckpiece with a diamond motif.

Each garment is named after different times of the day (6am, 10am, 2pm, 8pm). My work posits that the feminine/masculine split-view of gender can be viewed similar to the way one reads the time on a clock. “2AM” and “2PM” are understood to be two distinct times of the day despite inhabiting the same position on a clock. In this way, Lin sees gender as two different interpretations of the same body. Notions of the hourglass figure and the hypermasculine form of the body builder are exaggerated and draped upon the body of the opposite gender.

A black and white image of a figure wearing a black fabric mask embraces their own body with a large stuffed boa-shaped object with a diamond motif.
A black and white image of a figure wearing a sequin-covered mask leaning over while wearing a large hourglass shaped black dress
A figure wearing a sequin-covered mask wears a bodysuit with bulging shapes at the thigh and bicep area. A white rope ties the pants together.
A black and white image of a figure seated on the ground while wearing a sequin-covered mask. They also wear a long black tie, black gloves, white pants, and a hat which has a black mesh-like fabric falling from the brim.

The final garment 0:00 can be read as a gender that exists at the cusp of or outside of the bounds of the two traditionally held modes of gender. 0:00 isn’t a time that exists on a clock, but is also known to be the exact period in time in which a clock shifts from the previous day to the next on a 24hour clock.

0:00 is the culmination of the entire ANDROGYNE collection. Two figures stand joined by fabric—one wearing white and the other wearing black. Each wears a hat with half-moon on top. It represents the intersection between the two traditionally recognized genders and proposes a joining of them to create an androgyne identity.

I conducted interviews at the UC Davis LGBTQIA+ community center and asked each volunteer what gender meant to them, what masculinity and femininity meant, and how these views were reflected in their views on fashion. This was then compiled and mixed with other tracks to serve as the soundtrack of the collection’s presentation.

Tracks used include:

Kanye West - Wolves

Kanye West - Say You Will

Deebs - Waves

Kashiwa Daisuke - deepblue (12_edit)