Collaboration: Calista Huynh x TNS Health Services
The Consent Tote Bag
In the age of Me Too, my curiosity and research findings led me to exploit the conventions of effective marketing and how we can appropriately spread awareness in support of sexual assault victims & survivors. In collaboration with The New School Student Health Services and The New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault non-profit organization, I had the opportunity to go beyond the classroom and bring my vision to fruition in a larger, impactful scale. 300 denim tote bags with my designs were produced and distributed amongst The New School student body in spirit of 2019 Denim Day.
Skills: Design Thinking, Marketing, Community Outreach, Social Impact, Sustainable Approaches to Fashion Design
THE CHALLENGE
I reflected on the free sexual consent tote bags given to every freshman during our Orientation Week. We all love a free tote bag, but many students including myself responded negatively to the design despite its important message. It was not visually appealing and uncomfortable to look at. Some students I observed even flipped the bag inside out for the pure functionality of it. I felt there was a better way to effectively spread awareness without sacrificing design. I wanted to create something marketable and approachable that involved research, empathy, and the community.
APPROACH
As part of my research process, it was important to educate myself about the human interactions that lead to sexual assault and the trauma that resulted from it. I felt the best way to approach this was reaching out to a community support organization. I was able to get in contact with the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault (NYCAASA), a non-profit organization that strives to prevent sexual violence and reduce the harm it causes through education, research, and advocacy. I had the opportunity to meet and conduct an interview with Jeenie Yoon, Senior Campus Sexual Assault Coordinator.
“One thing as artists, performers, people who want to raise awareness for this issue, one thing we have to be careful about is that we are not retriggering people…it has the potential to trigger survivors walking by.”
INSIGHTS
Perceptions of sexual assault depicted by the media often glorify the situation or highlight the grotesque, graphic imagery of the assault itself. Although this draws viewers in, this is a common misconception as to how to “raise awareness”. These depictions unknowingly re-trigger victims & survivors and do more harm than good most of the time. Remember that orientation tote bag? If the design made bag-owners feel uncomfortable, imagine how actual victims and survivors would react.
PROCESS
OUTREACH: NYC ALLIANCE AGAINST SEXUAL ASSAULT
Jeenie played a significant role in my ideation process. I first consulted my language and designs for revision and approval. Our interview reminded me to take the necessary steps to design for a powerful subject like consent. The design concept was simple, raw, and gently honest.
A BAG WITH A PURPOSE:
SURVIVOR STORIES
Furthermore, I wanted the bags to be meaningful. I attached handwritten tags of survivor stories to create an emotional connection to the bag itself. To respect confidentiality, I used published stories from an online sexual assault prevention platform.
CONSCIOUS: SUSTAINABILITY
Another goal for the project was to be 100% sustainable, a value and passion of mine. For my prototypes, I sourced canvas scraps from the fashion rooms in our University Center as well as used soy-based ink (no chemicals) as my paint. My stencils were also cut out of recycled paper.
Introducing Calista Huynh x TNS Health Services
In the spring of 2019, I worked with Student Health Services to plan for Sexual Assault Month and Denim Day in April, producing 300 exclusive denim tote bags with my designs. Denim Day asks the community to wear denim as a social statement to stand in solidarity and protest against sexual violence.
These bags were distributed to The New School community for those who participated in learning activities on Denim Day. Additionally, I voiced integrating sustainability in this process and approved to have the bags hand screen-printed. This eliminated the middleman and allowed for a smooth and environmentally-friendly production process. We worked with the Parsons Screen-Printing department to make the vision come true.
Involving myself within the school community has allowed me to not only meet incredible people, but understand the power of my actions and how they can impact the student body. Seeing my design being carried by my fellow classmates reassured me that I was spreading awareness in the most effective way I knew how. The next steps are to possibly have another 300 bags produced for this upcoming Denim Day in April 2021. Thank you to SHS, The New School, and Parsons Screen-Printing department for making this a possibility!
To learn more about sexual assault prevention visit: