The White Shirt Project

Restriction produces desire. The modern society is one that is driven by desire. We are building countless moral values to cover up desires deep inside our heart. The field of art has always been a place to escape from societal judgement. Concepts that go against social norms and commonsense morality can be tolerated and expressed in the range of art. Social norms and commonsense morality should never become the ruler to measure what is right and wrong because no one is there to guarantee the correctness of morality and the completeness of the law. Changes progress society. The design of my dress shirt is to challenge the social norm that the naked body is shameful to be shown. I connect nudity with truthfulness. I always try to live the realist self. I do not need to hide. I want to present the beauty of the body. The sole exposure of the body does not directly correlate with the lustful desires of our human society.

The dress shirt is the most fitting to represent this concept because a dress shirt, while being one of the most basic and inclusive clothing in the world of fashion, represents restraint——intentionally chosen to be restrained. The dress shirt is not the most comfortable piece of clothing. When we choose to wear a dress shirt, we choose to give up a part of our comfort, and choose to become the not entirely truthful self to cater for the manner of certain situations in our society. Whether you were asked to wear a dress shirt during your choir performance in elementary school, or the important interview you had last week, everyone has their unique purpose to wear a dress shirt, a purpose that made you intentionally compromise your body for the society. Wearing my design shirt provides a chance to relive events of your life, truthfully.

The Emperor’s New Clothes, the folktale, profoundly exposes the ugly nature of the emperor's stupidity and the hypocrisy, treacherous and flattery of the other government officials, criticizes the people who blindly follows whatever is claimed to be correct, and praises the innocent and honest child who is selfless and fearless and dares to expose falsehoods. However, living in the modern society, I feel like the moral of the story has turned diametrically. The government will stay corrupted, as everyone acknowledges, and the politicians would make whatever unachievable promises to get their votes. Being honest and truthful is less and less valued in the modern society, and is usually linked with the words such as “vulnerability.” There are no more innocent children that would stand up against obvious falsehoods and lies within our society. As the tale tells, the emperor continues the procession, walking more proudly than ever. Perhaps the brutal honesty of the innocent child proves that “incompetent” people cannot see his clothes.

I want to be the innocent child. I want to stay as the innocent child.