At Last, Awaken and Tranquil

In my eyes, fashion has always been an expressive form of art that evolves together with time. From sketch to runway, the creative ability to curate something with fine eyes for details and to understand combinations intrigued me. The obsession started with my mom as her style of high fashion influenced the way I dress, but I wanted to further discover my own taste. I became more interested in the creation process of these clothes as I was starting to be devoted to acquire the skills needed. This is why my goal was to learn fashion designing and study the art of graphic designing and modeling to create a couture garment and showcase it in a look book to highlight the importance of self-exploration.

This project was highly challenging as I did not have any prior knowledge in curating a garment and my goal was to create a couture piece. Furthermore, even if I will hire a photographer to take the shots, I needed to model it and become my own creative director. On top of that, I needed to construct the look book by myself. Discovering my passion is something that is very dear to me as growing up I needed to satisfy society’s expectations of me. It is restricting me, leaving little to no time to explore other things. For once, I wanted to commit my time & effort to do something that I enjoy without feeling as if I should have used it to reach other people’s expectations instead.

Through this project, not only that I wanted to discover more about myself, I wanted to highlight the importance of self-exploration. That it takes courage to prioritize passion, as you need to break through the pressure and go out of your comfort zone. I wanted to amplify the message that without trying, you would never know the outcome. To live your life to the fullest.

Global Context

I chose the global context, Identities and Relationships for my Personal Project as it focused on the exploration of who we are and who we want to be. This project was my act of self-exploration as I was devoting my time & effort to explore my other interests and to go out of my comfort zone, acquiring new skills along the way. I strived to discover more about myself and my passion as it should always take precedence over other people’s expectations. I also wanted to convey this message and empower other people to have the courage to break through the pressure to discover their true meaning and identity.

Product

“At Last, Awaken and Tranquil” is a creative look book showcasing a couture garment under the concept of self-exploration. This product successfully responded to the global context, Identities and Relationships as through the process, I could finally focus in improving my creative & artistic skills and opened new fields of expertise - fashion designing and modeling. I rejected Model United Nations opportunities as it gave me the time to enhance my other skills to learn more about myself. It communicates my courage and desire to explore new skills and find contentment in discovering for my audience to follow. This project was also a form of self-expression of my evolving identity towards the public. Furthermore, this product also satisfied my expectations in terms of quality and aesthetics.

Reflection

For this project, I was willing to pause my MUN activities as I explored my other interests and self-potentials that made me understand myself better, succeed in exploring the global context - Identities and Relationships. From learning to create patterns to make a couture garment, exploring my modeling poses, and even from composing an effective concept look book, I gained priceless knowledge & skills, found new passions, and opened new opportunities. I realized that these fields were not as easy as I thought it was in which it requires an ever-growing expertise and experience, and touching its surface just made me want to dive deeper.

Through the look book, I am also pleased by having the chance to empower other people in exploring their interests and self-potentials, establishing connections with those who relate and expressing an artistic version of me towards the public. I further understood the importance of understanding myself even if there are sacrifices and courage to be worn. To not let potentials go to waste, having contentment in fulfilling curiosities. Therefore, the process journey of “At Last, Awaken and Tranquil” is something that I would cherish as the beginning of my self-exploration.

IB Learner Reflection

This Personal Project has become a milestone in developing my IB Learner Profiles which are set characteristics to inspire, motivate, and guide me in forming a character that goes beyond academic success and to become a valuable member of society. Though all IB Learner Profiles were effectively used in the process, the three most notable and developed ones were risk-taker, thinker, and knowledgeable.

In deciding to abandon my initial PP idea that I have been familiar with, into challenging myself to embark completely unfamiliar fields, that itself has advanced my intuition and drive as a risk-taker. I took risks in prioritizing PP which costed me opportunities from pausing my other extracurricular activities. I also took risks in being ambitious to make a couture garment and model it myself when both field were foreign to me. But at the end, the new skills and satisfaction in trying made it worth it and made me more convinced to become a risk-taker in future encounters.

I wanted my process of self-exploration to be encapsulated in a medium that can inspire others. Utilizing deep thinking skills to think of ways to deliver this message, this improved me as a thinker. Furthermore, in combining different ideas for the garment and look book to effectively deliver my intention to the audience and in solving unfamiliar difficulties, that too improved my thinker profile from solving complex ideas. This also improved my thinking skills which are a part of the Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills to guide IB learners in learning. Furthermore, being knowledgeable means being exposed to various concepts and knowledge. Evident from learning unfamiliar knowledge fields and in exploring the concept of self-exploration, it expanded my range of understanding and created a more balanced range of disciplines which improved my knowledgeable trait.

I also greatly improved my ATL self-management skills from using personal time management methods, prioritizing Personal Project than MUN, and by reflecting upon my outcome to improve in the future. I also improved my communication skills by interacting with different people that were crucial for the ideal development of my Personal Project and by successfully communicating self-exploration through the look book to the audience. I can also express a more creative side of me towards the public. Furthermore, I have explored and improved my knowledge in fashion & graphic designing, and modeling, discovering more about myself which are all the main intentions of this project.