Primaries in Square

Abstract

<p>Primaries in Square is a dress and cloak ensemble that uses simple shapes and minimal-waste pattern cutting to sustainably celebrate the productive tension between control and chaos. The primaries -- blue, yellow and red -- were created using Indigofera tinctoria (indigo), Curcuma longa (turmeric), and Rubia tinctorum (common madder) and applied to silk charmeuse and dupioni (both 19mm), with the latter two dyes applied to silk mordanted with aluminum potassium sulfate at 6% owf. The design pays homage to complex simplicity by using primary colors derived from plants and applying colors to simple shapes like squares and rectangles. Stream of consciousness surface design was created through batikaction painting, and combined with mokume shibori, a more controlled stitched resist technique. Surface design techniques disrupt basic shapes and colors to add aesthetic complexity and to conceptually remind us of the water used and often abused in textile production.</p>