Kaiqi Zhang’s Foam of Desire Wins Bronze at A' Costume Design Awards

Kaiqi Zhang’s sculptural garment Foam of Desire won Bronze in the A' Costume and Heritage Wear Design category on July 1, 2026, recognizing a work that blends historical reference, material experimentation, and critique of overconsumption. The design reimagines seventeenth-century aristocratic dress through moldable fabrics and bubble-like forms to turn costume into a commentary on luxury and consumer culture.

Why it matters: - Foam of Desire shows how costume design can do more than dress a body. The work uses form, color, and material to question consumer excess and the social meaning of fashion. - The Bronze A' Design Award signals professional recognition for work that combines concept, craftsmanship, and cultural relevance. - The award also puts a spotlight on experimental garment-making as a practical path for designers exploring sculptural and narrative dress.

What happened: - The A' Design Award named Foam of Desire by Kaiqi Zhang a Bronze winner in the Costume and Heritage Wear Design category on July 1, 2026. - The recognition followed evaluation by an expert jury panel. - The award places the design among entries from emerging designers, fashion houses, and cultural institutions worldwide.

The details: - Foam of Desire draws inspiration from Epicure Mammon in The Alchemist. - The garment reimagines seventeenth-century European aristocratic attire to question decadent luxury. - A specially engineered moldable fabric becomes adhesive when wet, allowing hand sculpting of volumetric forms. - Foam is laminated into the fabric and air is injected to create irregular organic bubbles. - The finished surface combines translucent and semi-rigid textures. - The color palette pairs turquoise blue and sweet pink with traces of sickly yellowish green. - High saturation and low brightness, along with matte and pearly finishes, create a look that shifts from visual seduction to psychological unease. - The award criteria for the category include originality in concept, innovation in materials, craftsmanship, cultural relevance, color use, attention to detail, psychological impact, and aesthetic appeal.

Between the lines: - The recognition suggests that judges valued costume work that operates as critique, not just decoration. - Foam of Desire sits at the intersection of historical costume, sculpture, and contemporary commentary on consumption. - Kaiqi Zhang’s broader practice in theatre, film, and interdisciplinary media fits the award’s interest in garments that carry narrative and conceptual weight.

What's next: - The A' Design Award says the recognition may encourage further exploration of material innovation and conceptual storytelling in costume design. - Kaiqi Zhang plans to continue exploring the expressive potential of garments across performance and interdisciplinary media. - More information about the design is available on the award page. - The broader A' Design Awards platform also invites entrants to review jury members, past laureates, and competition details at the organization’s website.

The bottom line: - Foam of Desire turns costume into a critique of luxury, and the Bronze award gives that idea international validation.