By this time, I had begun reading a lot on what clothes meant to children, and of course parents too. Clothes need to be practical and comfortable; they need to suit the occasion. But what appealed to me most was the role of clothes in identity-seeking and communicating identity. Small children are the best victims of parents (I am no exception) who ravish the idea of dressing up their children to mirror their own values. I came up with five dresses, each using the same white basic summer dress and depicting different themes through the buttoned on straps and pockets. The themes were national identity - white and red for Malaysia where I associated the country with chillies and rice, and red, black and yellow for the German football spirit; the now very fashionalbe organic look where I used earthy organic cotton yarn; the much-dreaded princess type represented by flowery elements and strong pink and purple; and last but not least the designer child in grey, black and white.
The next idea then came. Why not make a collage out of these black and white images of Suraya with the clothes I was creating. I needed to sew the dresses on. So, I researched and found eicie, a digital fabric printint company, with a branch right around the corner. Fortunately, they even printed on 100% cotton without treated surfaces. The prints measure 150 x 150 centimetres. Suraya was 86 centimetres tall. I got these ready for her 3rd. birthday party on 25th. April 2009.
