If you think I'm being harsh, picture this - what if a man made a fedora out of the profile pictures of all the women that had rejected him on tinder? Same principle really.
I think the point of this piece of performance art may just be the very same message as yours...
> She defended her Ph.D. dissertation in the handcrafted regalia, not in spite, but to show that rejection is a natural part of the process in achieving goals.
Again, picture the picture-fedora. What if the dude told you "it's just a natural part of the process of achieving goals" ? Would you think to yourself "wow there's a well rounded individual who handled that well"? Or would you think he was a fucking weirdo?
He'd break his neck.