Creative Design: Undergraduate

Acceptance, Invisible Threads

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Abstract

The design vision for this dress was to convey the designer’s personal experience of the “Acceptance” state of loss of a loved one. In Kübler-Ross’s model (1969), acceptance is the last stage of the grieving process, in which individuals embrace the mortality of a loved one. This stage was described as nearly void of feelings (1969) and emotionally stable. However, in reality, the last stage of grief does not magically finish as the model claims. Grieving is not a sequential process, but one that is repetitive and goes through the different stages all over again. The dress lights up as a symbolization of the presentations of grief that pop up even after enduring the stages. The dress’ LED materials represent the continuous changing of emotional and cognitive states after loss. Different colors of LED fabrics and strips represent the different states of grief.

Keywords: Grief, loss, acceptance

How to Cite:

Ecklund, K. & Rhee, J., (2022) “Acceptance, Invisible Threads”, International Textile and Apparel Association Annual Conference Proceedings 79(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.31274/itaa.15857