Seventeenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices

Abstract

Ethnic elements have become a more apparent theme used in the contemporary fashion product development. To explore suitable ethnic elements for products innovation is important for designing successful products. This study identifies the types of Miao embroidery elements which can be used in everyday womenswear through visual details and ethnic characteristics expression to seek suitable Miao elements for product development. In this research, content analysis was employed to further examine eight pieces of visual images collected from Miao habitations situated in Guizhou, China from the shape, colour, pattern and texture to summarize design elements. The findings show that the Miao embroidery pattern elements present unique Miao people’s aesthetics in pattern design and composition, as well as the traditional totem worship culture of Miao people. In addition, the striking color elements derived from Miao embroidery which consist of the use of more than 26 colors and the way of ethnic style color matching is also an important Miao culture characteristic. In conclusion, this paper focuses on visual analysis of Miao batik elements. When apply elements summarized in this research to everyday womenswear and combine them with modern fashion trends, these elements will express Miao characteristics from the aspects of color, pattern, texture and shape. The way that in which elements are presented in womenswear by fashion designers will be considered in future research.