Growing up in India for the majority of my life, and having to wear a uniform all the way up until I came to college, did not give me much chance or freedom to explore and experiment with my own style. Uniforms restrict a student’s individuality, expression, and creativity. It strips us of the freedom to even decide something as simple as clothing, which is a significant aspect of self-expression. Furthermore, growing up in a country where the rape percentage was so high (one rape was reported every 16 minutes in 2019) I was restricted to wearing “modest” clothing for the most part.
Hence, for this project, I wanted to showcase that idea of not being able to experiment with my personal style till now but how coming to New York has changed that for me. Now that I am here, I am able to feel comfortable wearing whatever I want which has given me the chance to explore different styles and outfits. To represent that, I chose to make a corset out of wire mesh to signify restraint and restriction. The flowers coming from one side of the corset represent how I am growing into my style here, or in other words to say that I’m now “blooming”. Since I am still figuring out what my “style” is, I wanted the flowers to be placed on only one side of the corset.