Adorkable Tiger

An Exploration to Apply the Traditional Tiger Pattern to Modern Fashion Design

Researcher & Designer

Jan. 2015 to Jun. 2015

The Project Overview

Adorkable Tiger is a graduation project for the undergraduate Fashion Design program. It consists of a thesis, the Application of Chinese Folk Tiger Patterns in Fashion Design, and a series of casual women's clothing designs, Adorkable Tiger. In the project, the traditional patterns were put into a modern design context and eventually developed into a series of design methodologies and thinking through practice-based qualitative research.

As a unique symbolic representation of Chinese folk art, the tiger pattern is adorned by people for its unique and vivid artistic image and auspicious symbolic meaning, therefore, widely used in daily life. Nowadays, as people pay more attention to the traditional Chinese folk culture, the Chinese folk tiger pattern has also received the attention of many scholars and designers. Still, only some designers have studied and systematically applied the folk tiger pattern to clothing.

The study focuses on the development history, symbolic meaning, and modeling characteristics of Chinese folk tiger patterns and their combination with costumes. The paper further discusses the design methodology of combining tiger patterns with fashion through data collection and research and analyzes a specific case of a brand applying Chinese elements based on combining the above theories, cases, and personal practice. Integrating with my practice of the Adorkable Tigerling series, I summarized how the tiger pattern was incorporated into the design, from the external form to the inner spirit. I hope to share it with many fashion designers as an inspiration.

Horners and Award:

• Graduation design and graduation thesis won first place in the Fashion Program at Tsinghua University.
• Excellent Graduation Design at the college level and Excellent Graduation Thesis at the university level.
• The graduation design Adorkable Tiger on display in New Ingenious China Graduate Fashion Week 2015, Milan International Fashion Week 2015, and A Journey of a Thousand Miles — The 6th Exhibition of Outstanding Works by Graduates from Key Art Institutions of Higher Education in China 2015.

Adorkable Tiger—Fashion Design Series of Casual Wears Inspired by Traditional Tiger Pattern

The page primarily focuses on the description of the fashion series—Adorkable Tiger. The Adorkable Tiger has four looks. For inspiration of the series, the tiger patterns are commonly used on vibrant tiger shoes and hats for children and toys and have been adorned by people for their aesthetic features since the ancient period. In the meantime, they inherit profound meanings. The tiger patterns symbolize a positive spirit towards life passed from one generation to another. Hence, I wanted to use the tiger as a primary visual element to express this passionate emotion belonging to the public.

The Adorkable Tiger series highlights the originality and brilliant colors of patterns. Illuminated by the down-to-earth street looks of Chinese elder men in Hutong, the silhouette and the mashup have a subtle balance between chaos and order. Accessories are dispensable elements for the series.

The series collaborates with Kopenhagen Fur, a cashmere corporation, and the Swarowski crystal.

The following contents are the design progress and the outcome of the collection.

The Concept Board

Design Sketches of Ten Looks

The titles of Nine Looks from left to right and from the upper row to the lower line are the Dashing Stripes of Construction Sites, the Penguin Army Jacket, the Fruit Farmer, the Cow Girl, the Magician, "Look at My Suite!", the Dazzling Work ID, the Uniform Fetish, and the Great Gatsby.

Sketches of Nine Looks

Artistic Arrangement of Sketches

The Pattern Design for the Scarf and Textile Design for the Great Gatsby

Pattern Designs of Textiles 1

Pattern Designs of Textiles 2

Pattern Designs of Textiles

The Design Progress for the Tenth Look - The Tigerling

There are initially two concepts. The inspiration of the first one is neo-futurism; the second idea is a continuity of the tiger pattern concept, which is selected at the end. The following images showcase the design progress of the fur and cashmere look.

Part One

The Concept Board of Part One

The Fabric of Part One

The Effect Drawing of Part One 1

The Effect Drawing of Part One 2

The Effect Drawing of Part One 3

The Effect Drawing of Part One 4

Part Two

The Concept Board of Part Two

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 1

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 2

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 3

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 4

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 5

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 6

The Effect Drawing of Part Two 7

The Design Progress for the Fur and Cashmere Look

The Finalized Look

The Final Result

The LOOK I–the Fruit Farmer

The name of this Look Farmers' Orchard comes from the famous Chinese poet Tao Yuanming's poem Drinking Wine (5th Verse), "While picking asters beneath the Eastern fence. My gaze upon the Southern mountain rests;". This happy and spontaneous atmosphere complements the open-minded and comfortable state of mind of the grandparents under the imperial city.
The silhouette adopts the characteristics of the Hutong grandpas' Oversize style and the design of the A-shaped diffusion shape, making the overall atmosphere more relaxed and casual. Relatively mild contrasts were used in the materials, such as cotton, nylon cotton pants, and gloves with thick stick stitches. I embroiled with chain stitches on some graphics of the top to make the texture richer. The colours were bold and lively, with high contrast and purity, giving a pleasant mood. In the pattern, in addition to modernizing the traditional tiger pattern, the Grandpa Ding pattern is used on the top and the detailed buttons. This pattern strongly correlates with memories of childhoods in the post-80s and post-90s. To this day, children still sing comic songs while drawing the Grandpa Ding pattern. I used the clogs to make the style more integral and relaxed. I was inspired by a Beijing hutong senior wearing these seemingly inappropriate shoes in the Summer Palace in Beijing, roaming in once the stately royal gardens, nowadays a soothing tourist attraction.

The Front of the LOOK I

Different Angles of the Look I

Different Angles of the LOOK I 1

Different Angles of the LOOK I 2

Different Angles of the LOOK I 3

Different Angles of the LOOK I 4

Different Angles of the LOOK I 5

Different Angles of the LOOK I 6

Different Angles of the Look I

Details of the Look I

Details of the Glove and Fabrics of the LOOK I

Fabric Details of the LOOK I

Detials of Embroidaried Fabric and Accessories of the Grandpa Ding Element

Details of the Look I

The LOOK II–"Look at My Suite!"

The silhouette of this suit is also an oversize A-line type. A shoulder pad design was added to make the overall look more witty and casual. In the initial attempt, a thicker tweed was used. However, the effect was unideal and overly heavy, so after experimenting with a fabric used by lobby managers, the texture was more balanced between light and heavy. The shirt incorporates the elements of the work card and machine embroidery to enrich the texture and contrast. At the same time, the buttons are hand-wrapped with green silk thread to make them more uniform with the whole look.

The Front of the LOOK II

Different Angles of the Look II

Different Angles of the LOOK II 1

Different Angles of the LOOK II 2

Different Angles of the LOOK II 3

Different Angles of the LOOK II 4

Different Angles of the Look II

Details of the Look II

Plates with Embroidaried Chinese Characters of Working ID of the LOOK II

Grandpa Ding Accessories of the LOOK II

Details of the Look II

The LOOK III - the Great Gatsby

This long dress is the most feminine look in the collection, with an H shape that reminds me of the silhouette of the iconic flapper dress of the 1920s as depicted by the Great Gatsby. The placement printing technique on silk makes the dress's pattern completely coherent.

The accessories of this dress, including hairpieces, necklaces, bracelets and clogs, are inspired by the mashup aesthetic expression of the hutong grandpas. The elements of coloured crystals and shells are incorporated to make the whole unified and compelling.

The Front of the LOOK III

Different Angles of the Look III

Different Angles of the LOOK III 1

Different Angles of the LOOK III 2

Different Angles of the LOOK III 3

Different Angles of the Look III

Details of the Look III

The Necklace Made of Seashells and Swarowski Crystals of the LOOK III 1

The Necklace Made of Seashells and Swarowski Crystals of the LOOK III 2

Details of the Look III

The LOOK IV–the Tigerling

The focus of this look is to highlight the tiger hat. The overall style continues the relaxed style. The look has a combination of high purity blue and low saturation yellow. To echo the fur hat, warm and soft textured materials were used, including flannel and cashmere. The necklace with work card elements persists in the collection, breaking the monotony of the upper clothing as well.