This dress is based on a structure in Tokyo Bay called Umi Hotaru, or Firefly of the Sea.. it was entered in my alma mater’s annual alumni show. I worked on this dress with my boyfriend who also graduated from the same school, but as an Engineer. We both designed the dress and I made the pattern and constructed dress. It’s made of chiffon and tulle and has two strings of solar powered LED lights wired in. The purse the holds the solar panels to charge the LEDs.
Here is the artist statement for the show:
While living in Kisarazu, Japan, we felt the looming presence of the man made island, Umi Hotaru, a few miles offshore. Although it brought Chiba dramatically closer to Tokyo as part of the Tokyo Bay Aqualine, it also impacted towns like Kisarazu by leaving a once bustling downtown now empty.
