Profile: Jasmine Cheung – Only Natural Design Competitions

Jasmine Cheung

Parsons School of Design

I am Jasmine Cheung, a fashion designer from Hong Kong and currently based in New York. Ever since I laid the first stone of my passion for design at the age of 11, I have been devoted to creating garments that empower wearers to challenge dressing norms and embrace self-expression. My work often lies in a deeply personal and female-centered perspective. By drawing inspiration from my own experiences and thoughts, I embellish my designs with resonance to authenticity and a feminine narrative. Primarily, working with woven fabric, I am drawn to its stiffness and versatility, which in turn enables me to create 3D forms in unconventional ways. Moreover, my design process revolves around the interplay of silhouettes and layering. I pay extra attention to cohesiveness and visual coordination, ensuring that fabric texture, colour choices, and prints are carefully considered to achieve cohesion and depth within my pieces. In recent years, I have stepped forward by creating custom prints, adding a new layer of complexity. I would integrate custom prints into a structural design, striving to create garments that are layered and dynamic. To me, fashion is a comfortable aesthetic state enabling the identification of an individual despite intersectionality. It transcends borders and goes beyond race and gender.

Website

← →

The Paper Bag Princess

Category: Apparel

Competitions: Fashion Competition 2025

The Paper Bag Princess is a fashion collection made entirely from natural fibers, reinterpreting the classic “damsel in distress” folktale into a narrative of self-liberation, sustainability, and rebirth. Each look in the collection draws from a chapter of the story, exploring how a woman, stripped of societal expectation, rediscovers her strength through transformation and resilience. This garment is one look from the collection, inspired by the moment of environmental destruction in the tale. Its design mimics the destruction of nature, specifically, a burnt tree with peeling bark—and serves as both an aesthetic and conceptual response to the urgency of climate awareness. Crafted from 100% linen, the jumpsuit’s rough texture recreates the rawness of tree surfaces, while its peeling top layers emulate bark shedding and reveal the layers beneath, just as the protagonist sheds societal constraints. The linen fabric, derived from flax seeds, also embodies the regenerative cycle of nature: from seed to flower, from tree to ash, and back to life again. This symbolism of cyclical rebirth parallels the story’s heroine as she transforms loss into growth. Patterned using CLO-3D for a zero-waste layout, the jumpsuit is constructed with eight panels fitted precisely to the width of the linen roll, eliminating cutting waste. All seams are bound with 100% cotton for added durability. A silk corset is layered underneath for contrast, with minimal mesh used only for structural stability. The garment is built to last, with strong construction, biodegradable materials, and timeless storytelling, but also designed for a responsible end-of-life. Once its wear cycle ends, it can decompose naturally, returning to the earth from which it came. In its textures, story, and construction, The Paper Bag Princess invites us to consider how the destruction we fear, whether emotional or environmental, might just be the beginning of something stronger.