DEFENDER OF FORMOSA
This dress is an embodiment of a spirited, resilient Taiwanese goddess. She lives inside the hearts and minds of her Taiwanese subjects, instilling strength and courage in each individual soul, uniting us to fight the pandemic as one. In my vision, the pandemic is a battle that our citizens are fighting, and on the forefront of our legion, stands our goddess.
To mimic the appearance of armor and to symbolize the power our goddess holds, I used vegan sliver leather — known for its sustainability and for being cruelty free — to create spiraling detailed pleats shown on the dress. Silver, on another note, represents all medical and surgical equipment utilized in our fight against the pandemic. The back of the dress parallels the double helix structure of "DNA," the building block of each and every living organism on this Earth and the avant-garde structure of Taiwan's very own Agora Garden. Finally, when our goddess' arms are outstretched, the dress opens up to form wings, a lasting symbol of divinity and spirituality.
The textures and patterns from this dress is inspired by the Agora Garden, a soon-to-be design landmark in Taipei. Agora Garden is renowned for its representation of timeless eternity, which my dress symbolizes as well. In light of the pandemic, I also incorporated aspects of surgical/medical tools in creating the metallic finish of this dress.
