Project Video
https://drive.google.com/file/d/15gEzp2arPSa-8-cGMQOCuqUdcteoP38R/view?usp=drive_link
Project Proposal
White Serpent Breath is an interactive fashion piece inspired by the Chinese legend The Legend of the White Snake. It reinterprets the myth through a modernized qipao that merges mechanical motion and breath, exploring how the female body negotiates between softness and power, concealment and expression.
Along the side slit, a kinetic structure composed of mechanical scale-like plates rises and falls like the rippling motion of a serpent’s body. Beneath these scales, layers of pleated paper reminiscent of West Lake’s oil-paper umbrellas are revealed, referencing both the setting of the legend and the act of transformation, something delicate emerging from within armor.
A smaller umbrella-like structure appears above the headpiece and at the collar part, completing the vertical extension of the serpent’s form: from body to breath to aura. Together, these movements create a living rhythm. The dress breathes, hides, and reveals, mirroring how women navigate visibility, self-protection, and emotional tension within social expectations.
Research & Development
The background story comes from Madam White in Chinese history, which is the story of Bai Suzhen, who is a white serpent spirit transformed into a woman, and her love for a human scholar Xu Xian. The narrative intertwines romance, transformation, deception, and resistance. As a myth centered on a woman who is both human and non-human, fragile yet powerful, the story has been repeatedly reinterpreted as an exploration of gender and the social constraints placed on women and the identity.
At its core, the White Snake embodies dual existence, including egotiating between vulnerability and self-protection. And her body becomes a site of transformation and surveillance. These themes strongly resonate with our course discussions on fashion as identity or cultural performance. And the idea of White Snake can be a conceptual expression of how women reacts by hiding and revealing.
For the development of the project, I chose a Qipao as the base of the whole design. It is traditionally associated with elegance and beauty standards, but at the same time restrained movement. It functions as both a site of empowerment and a tool of constraint.