Week 11: Design History Inquiry

This building is where I'm living, it is a typical residential building. The owner told me that is was built in 1920s, it has almost a hundred years old. It was initially own by the CEO of car company which is called Toyota. This is a very traditional residential building, so the main material should be concrete and made by bricks. I can't define the style clearly, but from the structure that I think it should be Federation style. This building hasn't been altered since it was built, I think the reason is they used very strong structure and material. This building could be called as an architecture, because it has a clearly structure and architecture style. I feel good in this house, the traditional structure could be adapted typical Australian weather, it makes resident feel warm in winter and cool in summer.

Week 8: Design in the Museum

I was interested in the exhibition, Clothes Encounters. My object is the dress of Sonia McMahon, she wore this dress when she was going to the White House with her husband, William McMahon. It was designed and made by Victoria Cascajo in 1971, the material of this dress is crepe. It only be used for one time, that is in the meeting of American President Nixon. But in this exhibition, there is something else that I was interested. Generally, the whole exhibition is amazing, because it showed to audience how the style of cloth change when the time change, and how they are unique to the world. 

Week 6: Style Blogging

As you can see from this photo, there are two young men are walking on the street. I took this photo in the street of market city. These guys are dressing in a Hip-Hop style which people can tell when they see them. This Hip-Hop style has a few clearly elements to identify. Such as, they like to wear a snap-cap and saggy pants, the most important thing is on their shoes, which is sneakers. They like wearing sneakers, especially for basketball shoes or running shoes. Because they think this is a special way to show their personality and individuality. 

Also, the Hip-Hop culture was originally from America in 1980s. Firstly, it was inspired by poor African-American people, then, it is developed to a higher level which is became a subculture. Now, most of African-American singers or movie star would like to dress like that, and it spreads to every corner around the world wide.So, this is the reason that young teenagers like to dress like that.

Although, this style is popular, because the dressing is very comfy. Such as the saggy pants, it is initially from prison. Prisoners are wearing it, then they don`t need to wear belt. The initial purpose is that prevent prisoners want to suicide by their belts. So, the designer made the pants like this, then, they don`t need belt anymore.

The sneakers are one of importance. Some of stars like to wear sneakers with the tag, it becomes a kind of fashion. Because, African-American used to be poor that can`t afford to buy too many shoes. Then, they won`t take the tag off when they got a pair of brand new shoes to improve "these shoes are new".

Week 3: Object analysis

The most interesting object is the dress of Sonia McMahon, she wore this dress when she was going to the White House with her husband, William McMahon. It was designed and made by Victoria Cascajo in 1971, the material of this dress is crepe. It only be used for one time, that is in the meeting of American President Nixon. It is not just a dress, it's also a representation of the First Lady about the whole country. Also, Sonia claimed to have chosen the sleek design because she was "sick of the normal frilly, frothy things".

The unique design of this dress make Sonia became the focus of all people. It's a quiet famous design in 1970s, because  the designer told the Australian Women's Weekly, "Mr McMahon and President Nixon thought it beautiful, and they were right… The dress shows no skin at all. It is fully lined with flesh-colored organza."

This dress was designed for Sonia only, so there is no one else wears it before. But in 2005, Sonia wore a replica of this dress to accompany her actor son Julian to the Golden Globe Awards.























References：

Lady’ Sonia McMahon is dead, but was she a lady or a tramp?, n.d, photograph,                                                                   

  viewed in 16 Mar, 2014, https://iainhall.wordpress.com/2010/04/03/lady-sonia- 

  mcmahon-is-dead-but-was-she-a-lady-or-a-tramp/

Sonia McMahon: Elegance, loyalty and that dress, n.d, photograph, viewed in 16    

  Mar, 2014, http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/sonia-mcmahon-elegance-   

  loyalty-and-that-dress-20100403-rkcv.html

Week 1: What is Design History?

Haojun Wu 2595683

What is Design History?

Design History is about history of design and how design is important to people`s, even designers` life. It is also very significant knowledge to designers, because they can know the references of their works that from past to present. It can deeply help designers to make connection with their design. Also, design appear in everywhere, people learn more about design history that can be more useful in the future career.









My favorite designer is Tinker Hatfield, he is a shoe designer. He should be the most famous and successful in the field of basketball sneakers. His magnum opus should be Air Jordan Series that Michael Jordan was wearing them to play on court. 






Tinker Hatfield used to be an architecture, but he changed to become a shoe designer. I like his courage that this decision might be change his life, in fact, he made it and he became one of the most famous basketball shoe designer. Also, I like his creative ideas, he combined architecture element and basketball shoes. No one tried this before, even think about this kind of idea. He brought new thought into this field and it succeed. For example, the Air Jordan 11 has been one of the most popular shoes until now. Because it has a creative shape and Tinker put carbon fiber into its mid sole that can make the shoes more stable.




This subject is very interesting, because I can learn a lot about the history of design. It shows to us how people used to design objects and how it is different in many period of time.







References:


cement, 2012, Tinker Hatfield Interviewed for GQ Magazine, viewed in 2nd March, 2014, http://jordansdaily.com/2012/09/12/tinker-hatfield-interviewed-for-gq-magazine/

Yu-Ming Wu, 2008, COMPLEX INTERVIEWS TINKER HATFIELD,  viewed in 2nd March, http://www.freshnessmag.com/2008/02/12/complex-interviews-tinker-hatfield/