Megan Wong

Shape & Theory
Supply & Surplus - The Art of Making Things

Megan Wong is a Chinese American fashion designer, born and raised in San Francisco, California. She is currently studying to receive her BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC class of 2022). Her work focuses on experimental garments ranging from many themes such as the growth of her own identity to the environmentally conscious ideas of fragility and permanence. She shows this through the exploration of unconventional materials.

Renaissance, 2021, avocodo pit dyed cotton, found vintage dress, seed beads, felted wool, found vintage jewelry, and dried roses and plants, photo by Audrey Nguyen

Renaissance means rebirth. Through using a combination of found and natural materials, this garment explores the concept of time and giving new life. Stories and moments are told through garments and their preservation. Each stain or tear goes back to a moment in time. In transforming a vintage piece into something new with the use of natural materials such as hand felted wool, avocado dyed cotton, and preserved plants there is an understanding of the natural process of time within the natural world. By incorporating all these elements, this garment shows the beauty in giving new life to the past.

Renaissance, 2021, avocodo pit dyed cotton, found vintage dress, seed beads, felted wool, found vintage jewelry, and dried roses and plants, photo by Audrey Nguyen

Amber, 2020, resin, gold flakes, and various gold fabrics, photo by Audrey Nguyen

This garment is inspired by amber and the idea of preservation. It is an experimentation with resin enveloping and preserving the fabric. The garment envelops the wearer as if they are in a state of preservation or slowly de-thawing back to life.

Amber, 2020, resin, gold flakes, and various gold fabrics, photo by Audrey Nguyen

details of resin on garment

Skin & Bone, 2020, water soluble material and dried roses, modeling by Rayna La'Fae, photo by Audrey Nguyen

This garment explores the fragility of time in relation to the body through the use of impermanent materials. With natural aging, skin sags and bones become weaker. This is shown through the manipulation of the water soluble material allowing it to scrunch and wrinkle along with the process of drying roses and their stems making them become brittle and fragile. Much like humans, this garment will only last a certain amount of time and only certain pieces will remain.

Skin & Bone, 2020, water soluble material and dried roses, modeling by Rayna La'Fae, photo by Audrey Nguyen

My work is an exploration of experimentation. Since 2019, the focus has been on experimental garments ranging from many themes such as the growth of my own identity to the environmentally conscious ideas of fragility and permanence, and how clothes connect myself to the people wearing them. I explore how textures can create emotions and how certain elements create tension or relief, allowing viewers to experience the emotions that I feel.

I also focus on the relationship between cloth materials and the environment. I have worked with water soluble stabilizer for a garment and another with resin to understand and show the concept of decay and preservation. Sustainability and helping the environment is something I am passionate about. I believe that there is something special in reworking previous garments and items as being able to give new life to the past interests me and is something I hope to build on in the future.

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