This summer, I had a blast facilitating design workshops for teens at the MCA. The workshop was designed collaboratively by several MCA teaching artists, including me, and was paired with a visit to the exhibition Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech. Over the summer, we welcomed just under 1200 teens from about 60 programs for these free field trips.
Our workshop asked participants to unpack ideas about value through a fun design challenge, using repurposed materials. After a conversation questioning such issues as what it means for an object to be valuable (and who decides and where those values come from), how fashion communicates values, and differences between fashion and style, groups of participants each picked a prompt from a hat to inspire their own wearable design. The prompts (created mostly by my colleague Jory) were abstract and imaginative, asking participants to use the materials provided to help someone survive in an alien world, make two opposites the same, clap back, and more.
Groups made their wearable designs to be modeled by a member and, at the end, we opened the room dividers to reveal a red carpet. And then (obviously) we did a fashion show together!
Images: Photos taken at the MCA by Grace DuVal, showing two workshops led by Jory Drew and me.
