American Dream

Amélie Ip

Bachelor Fashion Design 3

For her 2nd year Bachelor Fashion Design project, Amélie chose the theme of America, inspired by the artist Duane Hanson.

An unexplored land of opportunity, the United States has attracted waves of people in search of a new beginning ever since it was discovered. All of them seek to enrich themselves and survive, which in turn leads to scurrilous acts. Although all these people have the same immigrant status, the expression "first come, first served" illustrates the situation.
Certain populations, such as the Irish or Chinese, are persecuted and discriminated against by the English who arrived before them, for various reasons such as their religion or ethnicity. A great injustice ensues, and these oppressed peoples have only one choice: to adapt and conform, even if this means hiding their culture or true identity.

It was with this in mind that Amélie created this jumpsuit in denim and gabardine. She placed a bar code on the back to signify that immigrants had to conform to American culture, like products.
But when the metal zippers are opened, colorful, abstract fingerprints appear, representing the true identity of these perosnnes.

About Duane Hanson

Duane Hanson was an American sculptor of the 60s, part of the hyper-realism movement. He used his art to express his social concerns: racism, poverty, addiction, abuse. He transported scenes of everyday life into museums with sculptures molded onto his models.