Jacob Creem: Exploding Shoulder is a fashion wearable created from a plain white T-shirt decorated with an intricate mix of media that envelop the right shoulder and left waist area of the shirt in a colorful frenzy. The inspiration for the wearable comes from a beautiful mural by Felipe Ortiz in Central Square, Cambridge. Ortiz's work plays with the contrast between dark and light colors and juxtaposes chaos and complexity with calm, simple motifs.

Exploding Shoulder was created to emulate the way a scene of chaos obtrudes on a calm setting, represented by the plain white T-shirt. On the top right shoulder and bottom left waist area, a great web of patchwork, trim, and hem creates a cacophony of textures and colors that seem to overwhelm the shirt. Ranging from felt to linen and velvet, the fabrics are handmade in multiple designs. Some reflect the curved lines of a dream catcher, while others are woven in complex patterns such as an Egyptian knot. In an effort to stabilize these fabrics and those protruding from the shoulder and waist, a melted acrylic mold was made to form around the body and hold the fabrics in place. In addition, cardboard linkages with fabrics draped and stitched around them give the wearable an element of motion. Paired with the intricacy of the stitched fabrics, the movement of the wearable immediately draws attention to the chaos of the shoulder and waist enveloping the white shirt. The hope is that Exploding Shoulder can serve as a memento to the immediacy and vibrancy that street art, unlike museum art, has to offer. Street art inspires and Exploding Shoulder aspires to do the same!