We’re talkin about flowers and personal space. Ever wanted to look pretty AND hide away from unwanted flirtations? Think no more.

The initial idea was to create our own version of a hoop skirt that you would extend when you wanted to create distance between you and others. We came up with a simple cardboard “pulley” that you would pull to spread the shirt out. By extending the width of the shirt with triangles, it gained the room it needed to expand. To further the idea of “separating” yourself from others, we decided to create a collar that could transform into a hood. We utilized the mechanic from earlier classes to make “curling petals”. Rather than connect like a dome around the head like we originally conceived, we sewed the petals so they could hang loosely, and have them curl protectively around the neck, closer in nature to an actual flower. We tied the strings around the wrist so that when you open your arms the petals will close, we were trying to integrate the movement of the arms in a way that resembles branches or stems, as if to add to the defensive mechanisms we created. The skirt extends when a potential unwanted person pulls on a string as if to bring you closer, instead creating a barrier.

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the muslin worked well with our color scheme, and found greater satisfaction with how well the petals tied into the skirt mechanism. We were very happy with the final result, a beautiful flower dress.

If we were to add on to this project, we might have made the skirt mechanism more integrated into the wearers movement. Regarding teamwork, we could not have asked for a better match. We worked well with each other and we were both able to integrate our ideas into the project.