Coco Hu: making social statement through fashion

Coco Hu graduated from Nottingham Trent University, BA (Hons) Fashion Design in 2017. Her final collection was featured at vogue.co.uk.

The inspiration of Hu’s design collection came from the quote of Philip K.Dick, the American sci-fi novelist:

“Maybe each human being lives in a unique world, a private world different from those inhabited and experienced by all other humans. . . If reality differs from person to person, can we speak of reality singular, or shouldn't we really be talking about plural realities? And if there are plural realities, are some more true (more real) than others? What about the world of a schizophrenic? Maybe it's as real as our world. Maybe we cannot say that we are in touch with reality and he is not, but should instead say, His reality is so different from ours that he can't explain his to us, and we can't explain ours to him. The problem, then, is that if subjective worlds are experienced too differently, there occurs a breakdown in communication ... and there is the real illness.”

Sketchbook 1

Hu found the writer along with some other famous artists who have mental illness, such as Yayoi Kusama. Philip’s words affirmed some of Hu’s thoughts then. She explained: ‘We often see people comment on someone as “mad”. As if someone behaves differently from most people, we will consider him/her “mad”. I was thinking, is that true? What if there’s just misunderstanding between the person and us? After reading Philip’s quote, I begin to think perhaps there’s no real psycho in the world, but it is a problem of communication. The experience in life provides us distinctive perspectives and unique ways of behaviour, some of which are even more different than the others. We should allow the discrepancy, not just discriminate and reject it.’

Sketchbook 2

For the silhouette, Hu was inspired by menswear in 17th to 18th century. The style seems rather feminine now, but back in the days, it was the symbol of wealth and social status. Hu was always fascinated by the unisex style; she said: ‘There was no problem for men dress up in this style back then. However, people will think a guy is weird if he wears pink or outfits that are too feminine.’

Hu used a combination of silicon, denim and neoprene as the textile choice for the collection.

In detail, there were braille writings made in silicon. That was because Hu tried to let people see the world through touching and feeling, rather than stereotyping from what you have seen before. In the end, through this collection, Hu wanted to express an idea of not excluding people just because they are different or judging them by prejudice.

Image source: Coco Hu