"True Colours" is the project looking into the genderfluid dressing practice in Saigon. Although there are still controversies around the practice, it is undeniable that fashion is becoming more gender-fluid and the binary line is increasingly blurred. In the vein of this, the event plays the role of a platform where the participants can share their self-expression through dressing regardless of their age, gender, and sexual orientation.
At the event, local cross-dressing performers, fashion designers, fashion students and the public work together and develop a collection of genderfluid fashion for an extravagant showcase. Through the notion of collaboration, different communities have a chance to connect with each other and tighten their relationship, which results in a collection of extravagant gender-fluid items which carries their identity and self-expression.
Through a collection of gender-fluid fashion, the data from individuals enrich the archive of dressing and expression in Saigon, in the contemporary era when the traditional standards are challenged and the new standards are set.
By establishing a truly inclusive event, the project also promotes the values of openness and social inclusion in the museum. Thanks to this, the museum will engage and inspire the locals, especially the younger generation to live true to themselves and express themselves positively and creatively through the dressing.
- Ngô Việt Dũng
ABOUT THE COLLABORATION
“In what ways can this museum develop new forms of cooperation and exchange with the different communities that, together today, form the evolving face of Ho Chi Minh City?”
The work exhibited at the museum responds, creatively and speculatively, to that question. 26 students at RMIT University developed their answers in the fall and winter of 2020, during a three-month “Capstone Studio”, part of the final year of the Design Studies program.
A TRUSTED COLLABORATION
The current show is the continuation of a collaboration that began in 2019 with a student proposal for the modernization of an important museum exhibition space. The museum offers our students exceptional and meaningful design opportunities. Our collaboration is an important part of the continuing commitment, in Design Studies, to engage in rich conversations about design in Vietnam with leading local, regional and national partners.
- Andrew Stiff / Kenneth Rabin
Lecturers in Design
