Word: asianization
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Project East turns its sights on another industry stereotype: that Asian designers only make Asian clothing. “This is clearly generalizing and stereotyping, but I feel like when people think of an Asian designer, they assume dragons and kimonos,” says Kristin S. Kim ’09, co-founder. “That’s an inherent quality of Asian cultural fashion, but I think what Project East does is bring forth people who happen to be Asian and who are designers in mainstream America—making clothing not for an Asian audience...
More subtly, Identities makes the Asian-American experience an undercurrent to multiple segments of the show. The clothes are from a broad spectrum of sources: student designers, local thrift stores, Harvard Square and Boston boutiques, and national brands that are not necessarily connected to the minority community...
...show—an exploration of the growing phenomenon of androgyny and a fanciful study of the college campus in thirty years—appear similarly detached from cultural roots. “Both have this futuristic theme, but both also look at what it means to be Asian in this structure,” says Nara M. Lee ’11, co-producer of Identities, adding that the directors looked closely at Asian design and fashion history during the creative process...
Though originally conceived as a direct portrayal of Asian-American experience—the first show being partly set in San Francisco’s Chinatown—Identities has developed a different relationship with this community in the past two years. Another creative director Jane Chun ’12, a Crimson magazine comper, says she partly used fashion to respond to the current social, political, and economic climate. “Why do women want to dress this way? Why are certain trends occurring? These greater questions extend from fashion to a much larger stage. Yes, fashion...
Within an increasingly crowded and competitive field of student groups, these fashion shows find their affiliations with cultural organizations and institutions a great financial asset. Last fall Project East, committed to remaining an entirely Asian-American and Asian enterprise, was sponsored by the Reischauer Institute, which supports research on Japan, and the Korea Institute. Says Harel-Cohen, “there are these very big student organizations associated with minorities. We were linked to different Asian organizations on campus because they can raise the money. It’s much easier to do it from that framework than to just...