An experience of 24-hour surveillance led Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Hsin Min Chan to create a dress that exaggerates the "to-be-looked-at-ness" of its wearer.
The dress is designed to empower its wearer by making them both highly visible but also unapproachable.
The dress is a response to an experience of 24-hour surveillance
Hsin Min Chan developed the design, called To-be-looked-at-ness, after being detained by Taiwanese authorities and placed under constant surveillance.
The event took place at the start of the pandemic. With Design Academy Eindhoven forced to close, Chan had decided to leave the Netherlands to be with her family back in Taiwan.
Hsin Min Chan had to perform hysterics in order to be released
On arrival, the designer was told she would need to go into isolation due to Covid protocols. She initially protested, which led to her being arrested and placed in a hospital isolation ward with a 24-hour camera above her bed. The only human contact she had over this time came through an intercom system. She was given no clear indication of how long the testing procedure would take.
"I was really aware of the surveillance camera, pointed straight at my bed," she told Dezeen.
"I felt powerless and helpless, so in the beginning I just hid myself under a blanket and cried."
The dress is designed to exaggerate the "to-be-looked-at-ness" of the wearer
After five days, Chan decided to stage a protest against the "deh...