I’m Mary Xiong, a 19 year old Hmong American, aspiring fashion designer of creative and boundless designs through inspirations of life and nature's diversity.
Artist Statement:
The Meltdown was created from plastic canvas, tablecloth, beads, shelf liner, and hot glue. This garment was created to bring awareness to the fashion industry’s effect on climate change and natural resources. Mary Xiong designed the Meltdown to tell a story of how the melting ice allows microplastics to spread into the ocean. The melting of ice also allows plastic to spread, especially microplastic fibers from synthetic fabrics being produced. When washed, synthetic fabrics releases microplastics into the ocean. Marine life intake the microplastic fibers and travels up the food chain, leading it up right back into the human body.