Written by Kelly Wong

My design practice is based on my personal identity and is shaped by how I see myself. I think that the designs that I create are shaped by my personal experiences and tastes. I am very interested in typography and that has been influenced by repeated exposure to the current trends in design. I like to create work that I find empowering because I want my design practices to be inspiring to people in the future.

One of the designers that inspire me to create more would be Jennet Liaw. Liaw is an illustrator, letterer, and designer that is based in New York. She uses social media as a way to showcase her work. One of my favourite large scale letter projects that she completed is her window lettering for Alex and Ani. As mentioned in her caption, she wanted to create this piece to empower women. She advocates for women to build a loving and supportive community with each other. I think that her work executes her message through the choice to make each letter unique. Each letter has its own personality and reflects how bringing difference together is beautiful. Liaw also uses imagery in her work as two hands are reaching for each other in the middle of the piece.

I think that Jennet Liaw is an inspiration for my design practice because she is an Asian American woman that is succeeding in the design industry. As discussed in class, the history of design has been shaped by a male Eurocentric narrative (Connery 2017) and I think that Liaw breaks free from this structure. Her large folio of work is a source of inspiration for burgeoning young designers to keep pushing themselves to create (Mora 2016). As a Canadian-born Chinese female it gives me a sense of pride that there is a successful designer that has a similar background to me.

“It’s so exciting that today, it’s entirely possible for any person with a great idea—no matter what age, education level, budget—to build that idea into something real.”

Jennet Liaw

Last year for International Women’s Day I hand lettered a poem by Rupi Kaur to inspire my audience to spread positivity and love to the people in their lives. This relates to Liaw’s work as both work towards female empowerment and creating a supportive environment for the people in our lives.

I want my design practice to help close the gender trap. By making work that reflects my personal identity and empowers the people around me, I hope to inspire future generations just as Liaw’s work has done for me. I think that my design practice also contributes in the breaking down of the gender trap in design. My ideas and my unique perspective on design that stems from my identity can add to the growth of the design industry. Margaret Bruce’s article on the gender trap in design focuses more on the sexual division of labour in design and how women struggle to succeed in the design industry. It focused mostly on the idea that women designers were stuck doing passive work in design because of the circumstances (Bruce 1990). While the article is dated, as it was written twenty-nine years ago, it has shaped my design practice by inspiring me to be less passive. By changing the values behind design and striving for more representation, it sets the trends in the future for more change to be made.

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References

Bruce, C 1990, “Women designers—is there a gender trap?”, Design Studies, Butterworth & Co Ltd, Manchester.

Connery, C 2017, “Plotting the Historical Pipeline of Women in Graphic Design”, Design History Australia Research Network, Melbourne.

Liaw, C 2016, “Hustling to a Megabrand”, Communication Arts, Menlo Park.

Mora, C 2016, “Analog Girl in a Digital World: Nike Designer Jennet Liaw”, MissBish, San Diego.

Written by Kelly Wong

I decided to visit the Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Gift Exhibition at the NGV International in St. Kilda because I am interested in couture fashion. The exhibit features a wide variety of different fashionable objects that were donated to the NGV by Krystyna Campbell-Pretty in honour of her late husband. The collection of dresses, vintage Vogue magazines, and handbags were showcased in several rooms. Every room in the exhibition was staged in a way that highlighted the way the fabric draped or shone a light on the exquisite beading details on some of the bodices. The atmosphere of this exhibit was very peaceful, most of the other patrons were quietly strolling around and taking time to look at each dress carefully. As Mack outlines in his article about the politics of good taste, the sensory experience that the audience partakes in shapes their perception (Mack 2012). I associate the ambient lighting, quiet music, and grand environment of the exhibition with sophistication and upper class. This contributes to my understanding of the exhibition as I immediately assume the artifacts are expensive.

For me, fashion is also visual and social history, reflecting the role, perception and lives of women in society

Krystyna Campbell-Pretty

The image that I decided to focus on is from the gallery site, but features a selection of the dresses that were on display. In the gallery, these dresses are placed on pedestals and surrounded by paintings. I felt that exhibit relates to the ideas about good taste and good design. Some of the dresses in the other rooms seemed ostentatious and gaudy, while I felt that the dresses in the picture were more timeless and sophisticated. The dresses in this picture were designed by Madame GRÈS and are meant to be evening gowns. The concept of good design and good taste was that they were not synonymous. Good design stems from the intended purpose of the item while good taste is a social construct.

One of the ideas about taste was that people tend to favour more minimal looks because society appreciates subtle displays of wealth. These dresses contribute to the ideas about taste because they all look different, and viewers might have differing opinions on which dresses they like or dislike. Christoforidou’s reading brings up the idea that societal norms influence our emotional reactions to products. (Christoforidou 2012) My own taste favours classic silhouettes and intricate detailing over bold colours and avant-garde forms, this led me to be wowed by these dresses when seeing them in person because they fit my idea of good taste.

Good design, which is separate from good taste, focuses more on whether or not the purpose of the object was met. Regardless of what these dresses look like, the purpose of a dress is to make the wearer feel good. I felt that these dresses were well designed because they don’t look uncomfortable to wear. Other dresses in the exhibit looked beautiful, but difficult to wear for extended periods of time. These dresses use silk to show drama. They work as evening dresses because of the formality of the dress and the material. As long as the people that wore the evening gowns that Madame Grès designed felt empowered and if their own self-image was enhanced, the dress follows ideas about good design.

When looking at these dresses from a critical perspective, I feel that they were a product of the gender trap in design (Bruce 1990). As outlined in Bruce’s article, women have historically pursued the fashion specialization in design because it is seen as more “feminine”. The gendering of design specialties puts designers in boxes. The exhibit combats this by also showcasing fashion items made by male designers like Christian Dior. This exhibition strives to break free from the stereotypes that certain areas of design can only be done by a certain gender.

Overall, I enjoyed the exhibit because I felt like it featured a wide variety of dresses that could appeal to audiences with different tastes. I also think that the exhibit showcased the trends in fashion and how it has changed throughout history. They reflect the changes in the taste of society and are a representation of how taste and design are a product of modernism. I would be excited to visit an exhibit like this in the future and see more recent designs being showcased to show future generations what “good taste” was in the year 2019.

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References

Bruce, C 1990, “Women designers—is there a gender trap?”, Design Studies, Butterworth & Co Ltd, Manchester.

Christoforidou, C 2012, “Good Taste vs. Good Design: A Tug of War in the Light of Bling”, The Design Journal, Sweden.

Mack, C 2012, “The Politics of Good Taste”, The Senses and Society, United Kingdom.

N.A., C 2019, “The Krystyna Campbell-Pretty Fashion Gift”, Arts Review, Melbourne.