A documentary pays tribute to Asian women in the shadows who make fashion in New York

” It is often said: when men [asiatiques] immigrate to the United States, work in restaurants. When women do it, they work on making clothes. There are eight women of Asian origin featured in the documentary Invisible seams. In the clothing district of New York City, one of the main Western fashion capitals, they are busy creating clothing creations for big brands. Shot in the context of the Covid 19 pandemic, this free documentary also shows the rise of anti-Asian racism.

A fashion documentary on anti-Asian racism

Indeed, in the United States (but not only) incivility and crimes against people of Asian descent have greatly increased. During the first half of 2021, the NYPD’s (New York Police Department) Hate Crimes Task Force reported a 73% increase in hate crime cases over the previous year, with the population Asian largely represented this time. Stunned exactly reports an explosion of + 339% in the United States for the whole of 2021. With this British media, Jodie Chan, executive producer ofInvisible seams tells a terrible story:

“My office is in Times Square. There, a woman had been pushed onto the subway tracks. I go to this station every day. Now I don’t wear headphones when I’m on the train, I don’t stand on the platform until the train arrives. These are omnipresent things in my head all the time now. “

An intimate and social short film on the underside of New York fashion

This is why Jodie Chan, originally from Hong Kong, who studied in Sydney before studying fashion in New York and working there, wanted to help re-evaluate the Asians then more dehumanized than ever. Jia Li, the director, had just shot an intimate and social short film about the story of an Asian restaurateur facing Covid’s tenfold racism, Spicy Village. This is what motivated Jodie Chan to offer him to do something similar in fashion. The presentation page of the documentary released in May 2022 explains the following:

“Invisible Seams tells the stories of eight different Asian seamstresses and pattern makers in New York, painting an intimate portrait of their diverse backgrounds, of how they interconnect and together weave the fabric of the New York fashion industry. Through the lens of director Jia Li (Spicy Village), the short documentary celebrates the lives of these charming and talented women through their voices and stories. “

Giving a voice and a face to the little hands of fashion

Several people testify so in Invisible seams, in English but also in their other native languages, while continuing to play the needle and the scissors, as well as their sewing machine with dexterity. Enough to allow them to express themselves through gesture and word, in all sincerity.

A story of immigration to New York implicitly emerges through this poetic and political documentary, fueled in particular by racial stereotypes, including that of the myth of the model minority. Since many of these people don’t necessarily speak English and are often described as discreet and thorough, they often find themselves behind the scenes in the fashion industry. Where all these people who are nicknamed “little hands” are actually anything but silent.