Water-Bottle Sling: The Light and Dark Sides of Fandom Fashion

For my upcycling project, I created a sling that can be used to carry my gallon water bottle during outings, hikes, or just everyday use.

My water bottle was heavy, large, and not the most comfortable to carry by hand for long periods of time. I stopped carrying it around because it was inconvenient at times. However, I find that I remain the most hydrated when I have bigger water bottles with me… SO- I saw this project as an opportunity to try and design a solution! I also had a pair of what used to be my favorite jeans (that were torn) lying around my room. So, this project gave me the idea to upcycle them! 

The big decision to make was what aesthetic I wanted to achieve with this project. Since I was aiming to actually use this product for my own use, I wanted the aesthetic to align with my interests and personal style. I am a big fan of K-pop and decided I could use the sling to showcase something I love. However, I soon had to question- is there a certain aesthetic associated with K-pop? 

At first, I figured the Hallyu (or “Korean Wave”) aesthetic, which refers to the increased international popularity of South Korean culture, could work. It encompasses many elements of South Korean culture, such as K-dramas, films, fashion, beauty, food, and K-pop. Seoul, South Korea’s capitol, has become a global trendsetter in the fashion industry; however, the fashion varies from streetwear/urban, minimalist, or idol-influenced [1]. Thus, Hallyu fashion could range from the popular public trends in South Korea to the more elaborate outfits worn by K-pop groups or other celebrities. With this variety, I was not getting a clear vision with such a broad aesthetic.

I decided to create a unique aesthetic inspired by elements of the Hallyu aesthetic. Specifically, I based my aesthetic off of the outfits worn by fans at K-pop concerts. The K-pop industry would not be what it is without the fandom culture- that is, the many fan groups. The fandoms are often known- for better or worse- for their devotion to their idol groups.

Fans going all out at concerts in terms of fashion is pretty common within the K-pop community, with a lot of the outfits aligning with a K-pop group’s tour concept or overall group concept. Groups may have a “dark” or “light” concept. For “dark” concepts, fans may wear all black or dark tones, leather harnesses/belts, or chains. For “light” concepts, fans may wear lighter color palettes (pastels, white, beige, etc.) and more feminine elements (skirts, dresses, pearls, etc.). However, both concepts have a lot of common elements, such as jewelry, fishnets, ribbons, hearts, platforms/heels, and K-pop merch (photocards, lightsticks, pickets, etc.).

 

 

Since I personally have a style that goes back and forth from black-and-white to pastels/colorful items, I thought it would be neat to look at inspiration from K-pop fan concert outfits and combine the “light” and “dark” concepts into one product! The aesthetic that I am trying to achieve is a combination of the common elements of these concerts styles along with a personal touch of references to some of my favorite K-pop groups. I figured the personal touch was still very on par with the fan culture, so I believed these additions would just emphasize the core of the aesthetic.

 

As such, I wanted the sling to be decorated with charms, ribbons, chains, hearts, and lace while representing both the “dark” and “light” concepts that have become very common in the K-pop community. That was the aesthetic I am aimed for!

 

To complete this project, my process went as follows:

1. Sketched out a design concept that incorporated the desired elements and colors.

My initial concept was as follows: use half of the back side of the jeans to be the “light” side and the other half to be the “dark” side, both sides included charms, lace, ribbon, and sketches that reference some K-pop groups, and a crisscross pattern of ribbon on the sides. The “light” side would use pastel fabrics/paints whereas the “dark” side would be primarily black and red.

2. Selected and obtained the other necessary materials.

Since I already had the jeans and some smaller accessories, the materials obtained were fabrics (lilac and maroon), ribbons (black and white), lace (black and white), string, an assortment of acrylic paints (purple, pink, blue, white, black, red) and brushes, and various accessories (pearls, a charm, a pendant, and a necklace).

3. Cut up my old jeans into sections and bleached half of the pieces.

I used a rather rough approach to measure out where I should cut the jeans (a.k.a I wrapped the jeans around my water bottle and hoped I remembered where to cut). I kept a lot of the scraps just in case something went wrong during the process. The pant legs were cut up to be used as the strap/sling while the upper region of the jeans was cut up to be used as the bag.

I was initially a little concerned about whether I could really bleach the black jeans enough to obtain a white-ish tone, but I was pleasantly surprised by how light the bleached sections were within a few hours!

4. Began sewing! First sewed the bag itself, then sewed on the colored fabrics and lace (definitely did the sewing out of order… learned that the hard way).

As I had only done some really small hand-sewing work, I had never learned how to properly sew or use a sewing machine, thus this project actually encouraged me to try out a new skill! The project utilized quite a bit of sewing, so I took the Idea Forge’s sewing workshop to learn how to use their sewing machines and roughly followed a jean-to-bag tutorial from YouTube (by @remakeitawesome) to try and get a nice final product that would actually support the weight of a gallon water bottle.

I ended up sewing the bag first and then sewing on the strap. Turns out I definitely should’ve sewn the fabrics and lace on the cut sections first before sewing up the bag… sad discovery. I ended up having to sew the fabrics and lace on by hand… But thankfully I was able to use the sewing machine to sew the ribbons on the strap.

5. Started painting! Painted the designs on one side, let it dry for a day, painted the other side, then let it dry again.

The paintings that I added are references to some K-pop groups. I ended up having more space than initially anticipated (since I used more material) and added some additional sketches. Turns out denim is pretty hard to paint on if you have some old, reused brushes… so the painting required a lot of patience. However, considering I have not really painted before, I was super happy with how the paintings came out! I ended up not being able to use various colors on the black denim (besides red) since they were not really showing, even with a white undertone.

6. Made/attached the charms and pins. Used pearls and paper clips to make a heart (made it way more difficult than it should’ve been…). Used string to tie the charms to the pants!

 

The images below show what the final product came out to be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The bag ended up having both light and dark sides by taking advantage of the original black denim and bleaching the other half. For the light side, I laid white lace on top of a lilac fabric to emulate the pastel colors and fishnets typically associated with the “light” K-pop styles. I used this fabric and lace to cover the back pocket and to go through the belt loops. I did the exact same thing on the dark side, but with black lace on top of maroon/ruby fabric, and thus reflecting the dark tones and fishnets seen in the “dark” K-pop styles. Both sides have paintings under the front pocket, with the light side having pastel/lighter colors (purples, blues, pink, and white) while the dark side is more limited to white and red, with a tiny bit of hot pink (I tried to add some dark blue, but it wasn’t as visible).

I ended up maintaining the light/dark concept even with the strap! The strap was a total of four strips sewn together, with two black-white sections meeting at the top (where the strap contacts the user’s shoulder). Depending on which side was facing outward, ribbons associated with that side were tied and sewn on. So white ribbons are on the light side and black ribbons on the dark side. The colors of the strap align with the region in which they were sewn on (the light side of the strap was sewn onto the light side of the bag and vice versa for the dark side).

For the light side, some more cutesy elements were added (a hand-made pearl heart charm, a purchased resin flower charm, and an already-owned pin of a K-pop idol). For the dark side, darker (or just less bright) accessories were used (a purchased dark red pendant with some pearls and dark red jewels, a purchased silver bead necklace, and an already-owned K-pop keyring).

 

Aesthetic

In regard to whether I achieved the aesthetic I was aiming for, I personally feel like I succeeded! I incorporated many of the elements I initially wanted to, but I do acknowledge that the dark side did not come to fruition as much as I had hoped. Originally, I wanted to use leather and chains on the dark side (since those are heavily involved in a lot of the dark-style K-pop fan outfits), but was not able to for a couple reasons… First, I could not find a scrap of leather that was suitable for my desired purpose (not the right size or color). Second, I eventually realized that even if I had found some leather, I would have had an extremely difficult time (if at all possible) to sew the leather to the denim with the sewing machine I learned to use. As both materials are quite thick, the sewing would have probably required an industrial sewing machine, which intimidated me to use. Additionally, I substituted a silver beaded necklace for a chain since I could not find a suitable chain at the store and realized my spare chains are not here with me in Colorado. This substitution did disappoint me a bit, since I feel like the aesthetic would have been A LOT more fulfilled with chains on the dark side and the necklace just doesn’t do the trick. I plan on trading out the necklace with actual chains once I get my hand on some. I also decided not to do the criss cross ribbon pattern on the sides, but that was a deliberate decision I made since I was really happy with how the bag looked after sewing it (the seams looked really nice to me).

The minor details that disappointed me were greatly outweighed by the things that did go as planned and turned out nicely! I was extremely happy the appearance achieved by sewing the ribbons on the strap and feel like the ribbons really helped achieve the aesthetic I was going for! Furthermore, the paintings that reference groups just makes the bag feel more personal to me and really establishes that this bag is related to a K-pop aesthetic. Most fans carry around merch (photocards, keyrings, plushies, etc.) on the regular, whether it be on their purses, phone, or backpacks, so the specific references made the bag feel more in touch with fandom culture.

Overall, I am happy with how the product turned out and believe that the aesthetic I was aiming for was achieved!

 

Function

For functional goals, the bag did successfully support my gallon water bottle! I used it on campus and while walking home from campus, and sure enough, the bag thankfully did not rip apart! I do not know how many times the stitches can be loaded/unloaded before starting to give out (or whether it’s most likely that the bag or strap will fail first), but for now- I will deem the functionality aspect of the bag as a success! Thankfully, it can probably be repaired even if a stitch breaks!

 

What’s Next?

I look forward to using this product often! Even if it’s not being used as a water bottle sling, it can still be functional as a regular bag. Thankfully, due to the product’s nature, it seems like one that can be used for many years to come, as any wear and tear can potentially be patched up or fixed. As mentioned above, there are some small details that I think I will alter (specifically by adding chains), but apart from that, I wouldn’t change anything else about it! I ended up having a lot of fun with some of the new skills I got to use for this project (sewing and painting), so I can see myself trying to do something similar again. I already have a friend who asked me to make her one as well (she is also a K-pop fan), so there’s a good chance I will be trying again one day! Hopefully it goes a bit smoother due to the lessons I learned!

 

 

References

[1] https://youtu.be/82PcSoySCk4?si=yoHnM970mfkEaeqo

 

[2] https://pin.it/7EvQxqoYN

 

[3] https://pin.it/1tCSgTxep

 

[4] https://pin.it/5s6LCwCMw

 

[5] https://pin.it/6zENBea1n

 

[6] https://pin.it/7kI4UEQ3y

 

[7] https://pin.it/GfL4wIDUN

 

[8] https://pin.it/6WemULzjf

 

[9] https://pin.it/2DhMTfNsT