
For my upcycling project, I want to create a water bottle sling that can be used during hikes or simply just for outings. My vision is for it to accommodate my half-gallon water bottle. I used to carry it around a lot by hand, but that could become a little inconvenient whenever I would need to use both hands or if I was just running errands that day (in which I would not want to put it down somewhere and accidentally forget).
I was initially going to buy the Blogilates Water Bottle Sling from Target after seeing it on social media, since it was a cute design, had many neat features, and was a reasonable price. However, it was for 30-40oz containers and thus my 64oz would not fit in it. [1]
I had a pair of what used to be my favorite jeans (that have unfortunately been worn out), which further inspired me to try and use this project as an opportunity to create something new without having to throw away the jeans.
Since I seemingly had a clear idea of what I wanted to make along with the main material that I wanted to use, my only decision was to decide what aesthetic I wanted to achieve with this project. Since I was aiming to actually use this product for my own purposes, I wanted the aesthetic to align with my interests. I am a big fan of K-pop (Korean pop music) and decided I could use the sling as an opportunity to showcase the aesthetics often associated with this music genre (and the fan culture). K-pop as a whole has a lot of elements to it, such as the music, fashion, and idols (the celebrities). The aesthetic that is often tied to K-pop is called Hallyu, which broadly refers to an aesthetic centered around South Korean popular culture. [2]
The fashion associated with Hallyu ranges from the popular public trends in South Korea to the more elaborate outfits worn by the K-pop groups. Current K-pop groups have eclectic fashion styles, with some stage concepts heavily influenced by the bright colors of J-pop (Japanese pop music) and others influenced by Western streetwear. However, for the purpose of this project, I am going with common colors and popular elements associated with concert outfits worn by the fans. Fans going all out in terms of fashion is pretty common within K-pop, with a lot of the outfits aligning with a K-pop group’s specific tour concept or an overall concept. Thus, certain groups have a “darker” concept [3-5], in which fans will typically wear all black, whereas other groups have a “lighter” concept [6-8], in which fans will wear pastels, white, beige.



Both concepts still have common elements such as jewelry (especially pearls or chains), fishnets, belts, ribbons, hearts, and a representation of one’s appreciation for K-pop groups (displaying photocards, merch, lightsticks, etc.).



Thus, the aesthetic I am trying to achieve is a combination of the more common aspects of Hallyu along with some distinct elements from the groups I personally like. I enjoy subtle references, so I tend to use inside jokes for the groups, song references, or group concepts to represent my favorite groups when it comes to merch. As such, I want the sling to be decorated with charms, jewelry, ribbons, chains, or hearts and represent both the dark and light concepts that have become very common in the K-pop community. That is the aesthetic I am aiming to achieve!
The featured image was obtained from Pinterest, viienor [9].
[1] https://www.blogilates.com/products/water-bottle-sling-peach/ [2] https://aesthetics.fandom.com/wiki/Hallyu [3] https://pin.it/7EvQxqoYN [4] https://pin.it/5s6LCwCMw [5] https://pin.it/1tCSgTxep [6] https://pin.it/7kI4UEQ3y [7] https://pin.it/GfL4wIDUN [8] https://pin.it/6WemULzjf [9] https://pin.it/3J1wP8A8n
2 Comments. Leave new
I love how you aim to create something you can use everyday! As someone who is constantly carrying a water bottle around on school, on errands or hikes, I understand the struggle.
Are there any more existing water bottle sling designs that you may use as inspiration or a backbone for your design? I would be very interested to see a sketch up of the design you aim to make, I think this is a really fantastic idea.
Hi! I have not looked into too many other existing water bottle slings, but may find a couple other sources for inspiration (especially if there are other neat features I want to aim to include). And I have some sketches drawn out about my vision for this product! I will be including those in my upcoming post on Wednesday!