Angela Chiang｜The Withering Flower 枯萎花

The Withering Flower 枯萎花｜Fashion Design

The Withering Flower
枯萎花

英國倫敦中央聖馬丁畢業服裝設計系列 2016
Central Saint Martins BA Fashion Collection 2016

『枯萎花』一系列服裝構想源自于花在東方文化及文學裡的含義與象徵。

在曹雪芹的『紅樓夢』中，花的象徵比擬女性角色、十二金釵，各自的年華風情、或是花漾，或是流離。花團錦簇的盛開與枝葉的細細凋零，寫照出故事裡的女性在傳統封建社會中細數的光年。

除了東方文學裡的擬花擬人，花於風水和東方禮節中也有舉足輕重的含義。我一直鍾情于研究花在東方文化裡的解讀，它的多樣貌、好似永恆、也好似短暫易逝的光陰。

The Withering Flower collection is inspired by the power of the flower image, its impact both visually and symbolically in Oriental setting.

From the flower’s precise metaphor in classical Chinese literature, “The Dream of the Red Chamber”, which simultaneously reflects the women living in a feudal society; to the extend of how the flowers are interpreted in fengshui as well as gifting etiquette, I was vividly drawn to the Oriental world of defining the flower visuals.

Withered

I found the flower as a subject often perceived as readily available, and of easy access to the public’s eyes. It could be randomly seen as pretty, commercial, kitsch, or even mundane.

Because of the blooming flower’s often delightful and appetizing appeal, I was immediately attracted to The Song of the Flower Burial in Cao Xueqin’s literature classic, “The Dream of the Red Chamber”, whereas the fallen and decayed petals beautifully yet melancholically symbolized the female protagonist’s struggle and sorrow in an oppressed feudal aristocrat society.

我發覺『花』這元素經常被解讀為大眾普及且容易取得，凡至唯美的、商業的、附庸風雅的、甚至了無新意的，『花』一物能被詮釋的方式太多了。

然而正因花普遍給人的第一印象是明媚的、笑容滿面的，我更為『紅樓夢』中的葬花吟所吸引。

詩詞中賦予了孤自凋零的花瓣一些情感血淚，賦予了封建社會中壓抑的鼻息些微無所適從的同理。

Symbol

The flower is both the embodiment of life and the inevitable nature of transience.

I find the preserved flower as a refined gesture of longevity, and the decayed petals as the beginning of a new life; although the decayed flower is often seen as a jinx in fengshui and the symbolism of misfortune in Chinese literature.

The collection takes on the traditional root of a decaying flower’s language in Oriental setting, yet I hope to interpret the commonly beautiful flower and the withering ones into an aesthetic, blending the stereotypical jinx with engineered beauty, reaching over norms as what appeals and what repulsed.. that the life and the cycle itself is a sublime transition.

花從綻放到枯萎的一生，既是新生的喜悅、也是自然中無法避免的歲月流逝。我感覺乾燥花像是小心細膩得勾描著永恆，而枯萎的花瓣則是另一個新生命的起頭。

雖然許多時候枯花在東方風水的解讀是不吉利的，在文學中也多用於象徵不美滿、不完整，這系列的創作靈感希望將傳統解讀枯萎的元素賦予之新的含義：新生的喜悅與傳承的靜好。