Glass Garden: Chihuly Blown Glass Translated as Wearable Art
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The first national meeting of textile and clothing professors took place in Madison, Wisconsin in June 1959. With a mission to advance excellence in education, scholarship and innovation, and their global applications, the International Textile and Apparel Association (ITAA) is a professional and educational association of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education.
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Dale Chihuly’s sculptures rely on overlapping transparent glass shapes in a wide variety of colors, and the effect of light in the sculptures is a crucial component of the design. The purpose of this dress is to translate a Chihuly glass sculpture into a unified composition using the principle of the circular shapes of Chihuly’s sculptures and capturing the colors and transparency of the original art, incorporating 1950s historic inspiration reminiscent of the shapes present in the glass. This work explores the visual similarity between Chihuly’s bowl-shaped sculptures and the full skirts of 1950s dresses. Iridescent silk organza yoyos applied to the garment mimic the layered, transparent effects of Chihuly’s sculptures, adding a three-dimensional element to the two-dimensional fabric design. In this garment, digital technology is combined with traditional dressmaking techniques to integrate glass art, textile design, and historic inspiration into a contemporary design.