Hybrid Beauty: A New Era of Couture

Moon Chang's Award-Winning Womenswear Collection

The inspiration behind Hybrid Beauty is a convergence of dualism, with cuteness and death being used as a protective mechanism. It's based on Moon Chang's personal journey dealing with PTSD, where she found solace in revisiting her childhood. The collection combines cute features from clothes with Victorian silhouettes, creating a hybrid couture collection that is both beautiful and ugly.

The unique properties of this collection lie in its main motif - hybrid flowers. These reinterpret historical cute features like ribbons, ruffles, and flowers, embedding traditional millinery and couture techniques. Handmade flowers are molded by velvet with heated metal, translating into two-dimensional prints on silk and sequins. The collection emphasizes old couture techniques in a hybrid version, in a beautiful yet ugly way.

The realization of this design involves traditional couture handmade flowers made out of 100 years brass metal mold. The couture tailoring techniques are used, along with the flower bouquet packaging process that translates into draping and silhouette. The digital heat transferred prints on various fabrics like silk, organza, satin, and sequin, along with hand embroidery with beading, and couture origami folds transition to the big bow.

The collection, consisting of eight looks, is womenswear size 4. The design tags include modern couture, wearable couture, bow shirt, handmade flowers, and oversize bow dress. The design interaction involves the experience of being wrapped around with 4-5 yards of light fabrics like faille or silk organza, creating the experience of PTSD by flower bouquet packaging techniques.

The design was part of Moon Chang's MFA thesis from FIT graduate fashion design program, starting from August 2017 and ending in May 2019. It was exhibited in FIT museum in New York, and fashion show during New York fashion week S/S 2020. The research behind the design involved studying the brain, connections between PTSD and aesthetic judgement as a visual language metaphorically.

The main challenge in this journey was to solve PTSD from the perspective of a fashion designer, visualizing the conceptions into a real garment. The second challenge was the reinterpretation of history, collecting historical and vintage tools to create handmade flowers which took almost 2 years. This journey was a challenge to make the past alive again.

The design of Hybrid Beauty collection uses cuteness as a survival mechanism. It recreates old couture techniques to modern hybrid, which is romantic, dark, but also eternal. The whole design process of Hybrid Beauty promotes sustainability to create timeless designs. This design was awarded Golden in A' Fashion, Apparel and Garment Design Award in 2020, reflecting the designer's prodigy and wisdom.