Thi Wan
“Geographical, social, and cultural borders are disappearing; the only thing separating me from the world is my skin,” says Thi Wan, Communication Design ’12. Wan is speaking of Borders, his fashion thesis collection, which brings together his Burmese heritage and methods borrowed from his parents’ profession as chemists. Wan’s deep interest in both graphic design and fashion design led him to complete a fashion thesis collection in addition to his final thesis work for the Communication Design program.
For his thesis garments, including the one shown above, he devised a biodegradable liquid polymer that is transformed by a chemical reaction into a pliable material, into which he etches Buddhist writings and symbols.
Wan encountered Parsons first as a participant in the Parsons Scholars program, a three-year college prep and art and design curriculum for local high school students, and then as an undergraduate. In his studies, he explored another set of borders, working at the intersection of apparel and art direction by completing theses in both fashion design and communication design. “I wanted to reimagine garments, the materials they’re made from, and present them in arresting ways.” Today Wan employs his impressively broad interdisciplinary practice as a menswear designer at Thom Browne.