These are part of my second practice-based research project, ‘Copy, Fold, Hold: What is inside the suitcase?’, exploring the performative relationship between Diaspora and Fashion. It defined how everyday materials and lived experiences within domestic home spaces reflect diasporic culture.
As part of my Masters in Fashion Design, a series of fashion garment-merged objects was developed, exploring performative storytelling methods to reflect on the Asian-Australian Diaspora experience. It combines personal stories gathered from my grandma and mother’s wardrobe, sharing nostalgic moments in both Australia and Hong Kong.
Each piece created consists of a ‘one outfit merged inside a transformative suitcase’, symbolising the act of only taking the necessity during migration, and echoing my mother’s commonly spoken phrases: ‘Take an extra top with you, it is cold outside’, ‘You will fit in soon’, or ‘Take off your shoes when you go inside’.
Memory is valued not only as a recollection of the past, but a fragile state that can never be retrieved in the same manner it once was. More than just creating something new, this project observes and gestures subtle connections between the past, present, and future generations within our Cantonese and Australian cultures.
TRS: Pack up and Go, 2023, Fashion, Textile and Object. By
@leannecys_
Leanne Yansin Choi is a Chinese-Australian interdisciplinary designer based in Narrm. Realised from her Bachelor of Fashion (Design) (Honours) and Master of Fashion (Design) at RMIT, she is interested in representing and re-presenting Asian-Australian diaspora culture through performative storytelling means. Her practice combines clothing, objects, and text to challenge current traditional ideas in fashion design. Often drawing from community and nostalgic experiences, Leanne’s work has been showcased in Melbourne Fashion Week (finalist in National graduate showcase), Australian Fashion Foundation, Fashion Journal, RMIT and Transcendenxe.
More of Leanne’s work in HOISZN 005: The Home Issue 🏠 Coming Soon!
