Parsonf School pf Design graduate Jingle Yu has designed a collection of funeral wear for the deceased, which aims to tackle the idea that “dead people should be silent and unfashionable”.
Called Die Fabulously, the conceptual graduate collection – which can also be worn by the living – features six garments that reject traditional, heteronormative ideas of funeral wear – namely, black clothes.
“Funerals can be formulaic and heteronormative and a lot of queer people are misgendered after they pass away,” said Yu, who studied fashion design.
“A lot of trans people are dressed up by their family members when they die. My aunt was a trans woman but she was buried in traditional Chinese men’s burial garments,” he told Dezeen.
“After she passed away, I felt really sad for her. I think we should all have the right to die fabulously,” he explained.
According to Yu, the collection aims to provide wearers with a feeling of “protection and preservation”.
Inspired by drag ball culture, the colourful and abstract garments – which range from body bags to citrus underwear – are constructed using methods Lu borrowed from the food packaging industry.
For example, one look that features a mixture of lube and water sealed into clean vinyl pockets is sealed using a heat-seal machine of the kind that is used to seal sauce packets.
The look is completed with a pair of citrus underwear “to cover up any bad smells” and plastic shoes with brushes to “make your feet tender and soft at all times”.
A similar method is used in another garment that features clear vinyl overalls with colourful lube and water-filled pockets, intended to leave you “feeling fresh and cool” in the grave.
One garment made of dark blue tarpaulin is embedded with LED lights across vital parts of the body to highlight the importance of organ donation.
Elsewhere, a padded dark green and shiny black duvet-like outfit is meant to “create a sense of comfort and protection”.
Another look is a burial bag designed to fit two people, which is made of black printed silk and plastic with red polka dots, while a single-person body bag is made using heart-shaped bubble wrap.
[“source=dezeen”]
