The Paper Crane's Special Wish

"The Paper Crane's Special Wish" is a collection inspired by the saying that if you fold 1,000 paper cranes, you will be granted  a special wish.

This took me down the rabbit hole of origami, and I decided to make a women’s wear collection inspired by not only the paper crane, but by origami in general, since I have long been fascinated by this saying and have always done origami growing up.

With the paper crane being a symbol of hope and peace, I wanted to target a customer who really embodies those traits. Someone who is spontaneous, bold, driven, and fashion forward, but also someone who sees themself as an optimist and likes to celebrate life.

As for the the colors, I chose black and red because black is the ultimate representation of silhouette, and red is the ultimate representation of boldness. These colors from the very beginning just made sense and felt right for this collection.

For my fabrics, I was really inspired by the simplicity, yet intricacy of origami. I decided to include motifs of folded paper cranes and folded origami bows in all of my silhouettes, paired with simple black twills.

My design process consisted of lots of collaging with paper, and draping with 3D folded origami.

Throughout my entire construction process, I used CLO3D to make and test all of my patterns for a 5 look physical collection. I am someone who loves to mesh 2D and 3D in harmony, so it was common for me to make patterns in CLO, to then alter them on paper.

I decided to make a 6th look with the intent of it being completely digital, allowing me to explore aspects such as fabric rendering, and creating a 3D environment to compliment my editorial images.