Inmigración/ La Jornada translates to Immigration/ The Journey. As the daughter of Mexican immigrants, I have a deeply beautiful cultural background and I’ve always been passionate about supporting our community and minority rights. My senior thesis consists of a seven look collection and is based on the overall topic of immigration with seven sub-themes that fall within immigration. The seven topics are as follows: Deportación (Deportation), Separación de Familia (Separation of Family), Racismo y Discriminación (Racism and Discrimination), Cruzando la Frontera (Crossing the Border), Abandonamiento (Abandonment), Adaptación (Adaptation), and Superación (Overcome/Surpass/Prevail). Every immigrant undergoes different struggles, pain, and adversities as a result of their different ethnicities and background. Some individuals will never be able to understand or relate to them. I’ve translated each individual topic into silhouette designs that are based upon immigrant experiences and the exposure of the United States political system that works against the Latino/Hispanic community. Every design choice in this collection has a specific meaning; together, the pieces in the collection expose the beauty between all the pain and adversity.
These are the digital drawings and technical flats of my seven look collection, the physical garment photographs of which are not displayed here.
Jasmine Castañeda-Nava, daughter of Mexican Immigrants, from Zacatecas y Guerrero México, is deeply fond of her heritage and Mexican roots. She uses her personal experiences as well as her Latin communities backgrounds, history and political issues as inspiration for her textile & design work. Jasmine’s work has been displayed at Philadelphia Center City Century 21 Windows, was a top finalist for the LEVI’S x Arts Thread International competition, has had her fashion illustrations displayed at Theater Horizon and has been awarded grants and fellowships. One of which was the prestigious Frieda Fehrenbacher International Travel Fellowship, which allowed her to travel and live in Colombia to work as assistant designer for Colombian designer Luciana Valencia for her luxury & sustainable Ornella Franchi brand. Majoring in Fashion design with a double minor in Business & Textiles, Jasmine hopes to formally establish her Casa Nava sustainable fashion design brand and continue to expand her design experience with other designers in Latin America.