For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

Life is too good. 

 I love Petőfi Sándor.

The Fluidity of Me

Last night, I reunited with my past in a dream.

I stood tall, trying to give myself weight, as if money could fill the void within me, as if a price tag could define my worth. Then I saw my mother and grandmother arguing, their voices sharp, tangled, unyielding. Their faces twisted in the dream’s shifting haze, an endless war frozen in time. I woke up with the heaviness of air pressing against my chest, the echoes of the dream still alive in my blood.

I began to reflect on why these scenes kept returning to me, so precise in their incisions, so merciless in their clarity.

For a long time, I have lived in a binary world, where everything is reduced to opposing categories. Strong or weak. Success or failure. Loved or abandoned. These judgments have shaped my decisions, pushing me to strive endlessly, fearing the possibility of slipping into what I have been conditioned to see as the wrong side. The idea of being weak has felt intolerable, as if it would strip me of value altogether.

This pattern has never truly left me. In childhood, it played out in my family’s relentless power plays, teaching me to analyze every situation as a matter of winning or losing. As I grew older, it extended into my relationships. I felt inadequate—not necessarily because they had more, but because I had already internalized the idea that economic status determined worth. Their judgment felt unbearable because, deep down, I shared their values. I had long believed that strength, in its most tangible form, came from financial power. The realization unsettled me. I was not merely resisting their perspective; I was trapped within it.

Wu Zhihong, in The Giant Infant Nation, writes that an infant sees the world in absolutes. What satisfies its desires is good, and what frustrates them is bad. The infant does not recognize complexity—only extremes. This way of thinking remains ingrained in many adults. The need to be either exalted or cast away, to either triumph or disappear, to either be a god or a demon. For so long, I have navigated life through this lens, clinging to the idea that I must always be on the winning side, fearing the collapse that comes with failure.

But the world is not built on rigid definitions.

Wittgenstein once wrote, “The world is the totality of facts, not things.” The essence of reality does not lie in objects, but in the shifting relationships between them. My existence is not confined to static labels of wealth, status, or belonging. It is shaped by a fluid network of interactions, changing with time, perception, and context. Nothing remains fixed, not even the truths I once held onto so tightly. Facts evolve, relationships shift, and identity transforms.

Embracing this fluidity means releasing the need for absolute control. Strength and weakness are not fixed states but fluctuating conditions. Some moments, I will lead; others, I will falter. Some days, I will be recognized; others, I will be overlooked. These changes do not define me. They are merely different angles of the same existence. The need to assign myself a permanent role—victor or failure, worthy or unworthy—begins to feel unnecessary.

This is what I want to practice. The ability to let things be what they are, without forcing them into rigid meanings. The ability to observe without immediately labeling, to allow ambiguity without discomfort. Spectrum thinking is the opposite of absolutism. It acknowledges complexity, embraces contradiction, and permits uncertainty. The more I apply it, the less urgency I feel to reach conclusions, the less pressure I put on myself to fit into a predefined category.

Looking at my reflection, I recognize that my old patterns still exist, but they are loosening. I still feel the weight of my mother’s indifference, but I no longer take it as proof of my worth. I still wish to be seen, but I no longer believe that recognition is the only validation. The rigidity that once confined me is beginning to dissolve.

The dream lingers, but I no longer see it as a warning. It is merely an echo of past beliefs, a fragment of a worldview I am leaving behind.

I will keep moving.

The world is fluid, and so am I.

East Meets West

 This collection is a dialogue between art and fashion, a convergence of ancient philosophies and contemporary design, where tradition and modernity intertwine. Rooted in Eastern aesthetics, it seeks to bridge cultural narratives, introducing the poetic nuances of Chinese calligraphy and shibori dyeing to the Western fashion landscape. Each garment is a canvas, each silhouette a stroke of ink, capturing the ephemeral beauty of imperfection and the fluidity of identity.

The collection emerges from the intersection of structure and softness, discipline and spontaneity—much like the art of calligraphy, where controlled brushwork gives way to organic expression. Inspired by the philosophy of wabi-sabi, the collection celebrates imperfection, transience, and the delicate balance between deconstruction and reconstruction. The poetic cracks of kintsugi, the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with gold, inform the collection’s aesthetic—flaws are not hidden but embraced, reinforcing the idea that beauty exists in the irregular, the incomplete, and the ever-evolving.

Silhouettes draw from a fusion of inspirations: the draped elegance of traditional Hanfu(汉服), the structured precision of tailored blazers, and the organic geometry of Isamu Noguchi’s sculptural forms. This juxtaposition creates a fluid dialogue between rigidity and movement, challenging conventional definitions of form. Each garment becomes an exploration of gender fluidity, rejecting traditional constraints and embracing a new vision of inclusivity. In this world, masculine and feminine elements do not oppose but coexist—sharply tailored jackets are softened with flowing layers, and asymmetric draping disrupts classical proportions, reflecting the dynamic interplay of yin and yang.

The visual language of ink manifests in both print and texture. Inspired by the expressive brushstrokes of Huang Yao and the abstract modern calligraphy of He Han, the collection translates the rhythm of ink onto fabric, creating movement that flows with the body. Liquid textures, from cascading silk satin to shibori-dyed textiles, capture the essence of transformation, as if garments themselves are in a state of constant motion. The raw, unfiltered nature of calligraphy—where each stroke is permanent, unalterable—mirrors the philosophy of the collection: to embrace the authenticity of the moment.

The materials chosen reinforce both the philosophical and environmental ethos of the collection. Conscious of fashion’s impact on the planet, the collection is constructed using overstocked fabrics and deadstock textiles, breathing new life into what would otherwise be discarded. Patchwork techniques, inspired by Japanese boro and traditional textile mending, emphasize sustainability while adding depth to the visual narrative. Each fabric remnant tells a story, layered into garments that honor the past while moving toward the future.

Culturally, the collection serves as a bridge between East and West, paying homage to its origins while challenging the rigidity of cultural binaries. The influence of Zaha Hadid’s architectural fluidity is present in the sculptural forms, while the raw energy of Wu Guanzhong’s ink paintings finds expression in the dynamic flow of drapery. In the realm of fashion photography, the experimental aesthetics of Nick Knight and Yohji Yamamoto inform the presentation, capturing the garments in a way that transcends mere clothing—turning them into living, breathing art.

This collection is a manifesto for a new fashion philosophy—one that embraces imperfection, blurs the boundaries between structure and fluidity, and redefines identity beyond convention. It is an exploration of the self as a canvas, a movement toward liberation through art, and a celebration of the poetry found in imperfection. As ink bleeds into fabric, as silhouettes shift between control and release, the collection becomes a meditation on the beauty of transformation, an homage to the past, and an invitation to reimagine the future.

Greater Than Fiction — A Fashion Exploration of Power, Control, and Transformation

 We are all shaped by a deep-rooted psychology of omnipotent narcissism, a shared illusion that fuels collectivism. Collectivism, in turn, creates the so-called "Good People of China"—a moral construct designed to mask an underlying truth: at our core, every infant longs to be an almighty dragon, free to do whatever it desires.

— The Illusion of Omnipotent Narcissism, from The Country of Giant Babies by Wu Zhihong

Wu Zhihong describes Chinese society as a nation of giant babies, bound by psychological dependence and an omnipotent narcissistic fantasy. The dragon—both revered and feared—is the perfect embodiment of this contradiction: an all-powerful being whose freedom is an illusion. This collection challenges that illusion, confronting the societal mechanisms that confine women within controlled narratives of strength and virtue while denying them true self-rule. In contrast to Wu’s portrayal of infantilization, my work imagines a different path—one where women, like dragons, do not exist to be tamed, but to reclaim their sovereignty.

In this collection, I compare women to dragons—beings of immense power, misunderstood and constrained by societal narratives. The dragon, a mythical creature woven into the cultural fabric of both East and West, serves as a symbolic contrast between Chinese and Western ideologies. In the West, dragons are monsters of destruction, to be slain and conquered. In the East, they are sacred entities—symbols of order, protection, and divine rule. Yet, both representations share an unspoken truth: power, when unchecked, becomes a force of both creation and tyranny. In today’s hyperconnected world, these narratives are no longer isolated; they collide, merge, and mutate into new forms.

Women, like dragons, are feared and revered, shackled by the expectations imposed upon them. My collection critiques these constructs, subverting the idea of womanhood as either a submissive ornament or a monstrous force to be tamed. It is a reflection on the omnipotent narcissism embedded in both personal and collective identity. The Chinese dragon embodies the paradox of absolute power and absolute restriction—much like the societal forces that dictate women’s roles. The emperor alone was free to act without limitation, while the masses adhered to rigid, absolute prohibitions. Women, too, are conditioned to exist within carefully crafted narratives—strong, but only in ways deemed acceptable; powerful, yet only within sanctioned boundaries.

Through this collection, I explore the duality of power—the dark and the divine, oppression and ascension. The transition from darkness to light is expressed through my color choices: a gradient from deep neutrals to luminous tones, reflecting the evolution of women’s societal status from obscurity to self-actualization. The silhouette, sculpted with medium-weight fabrics, strikes a balance between strength and fluidity—neither too delicate to be dismissed nor too rigid to be weighed down.

This is not merely fashion; it is a manifesto. Clothing is no longer an object of decoration but a statement of defiance. My designs are not meant to make women "beautiful" in the conventional sense but to make them formidable—to clothe them in the aura of dragons, not as mythical creatures to be tamed, but as forces of self-sovereignty. In a world where male power has long been the standard, women do not need permission to exist. They need space to breathe fire.

This collection is my answer to that.

SEEKING REFUGE: A Fashion Exploration of Isolation, Humanity, and Utopian Longing

Seeking Refuge is a collection born from the unprecedented solitude of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when physical confinement extended beyond mere space, seeping into the human psyche. As the world locked itself indoors, fear and uncertainty took root, altering not just daily routines but the very essence of human connection. This collection is a response to that reality—an exploration of our instinct to seek sanctuary, both for the body and the soul. It reflects the paradox of modern isolation: the need for protection from external chaos and the simultaneous longing for freedom.

Drawing inspiration from Tao Yuanming’s poem The Peach Blossom Spring, this collection echoes the timeless dream of retreat. In Yuanming’s utopia, people live in seclusion, surrounded by nature’s abundance, untouched by the turmoil of the outside world. The poem’s vision of reclusion mirrors the psychological state of those who, during the pandemic, sought refuge from an uncertain reality. Amid global disarray, the dream of a hidden sanctuary persists—a space where chaos cannot reach, where one can exist beyond the weight of societal expectations. This collection captures that longing, weaving the idea of physical and emotional shelter into garments that blur the line between protection and isolation.

Silhouettes reflect this duality, merging the defensive elements of traditional Asian straw rain capes with the refined sculptural forms of Western haute couture. These garments construct barriers, enforcing distance, creating space, and embodying the paradox of concealment as both a shield and a self-imposed exile. Large, enveloping forms obscure the body, acting as an armor against external disruption, while layered structures hint at depth, as if one could disappear within the folds. The garments do not merely adorn the body; they house it, shelter it, offering a sense of withdrawal yet carrying an unspoken tension—the simultaneous desire to be seen and unseen.

This play between presence and absence extends to the collection’s color palette. A gentle spectrum of neutral hues softens the imposing silhouettes, creating a quiet visual balance. The raw, unprocessed quality of linen in ivory tones reflects purity and simplicity, a return to something unadorned and essential. Floral prints emerge in subtle whispers, adding a layer of nostalgia, a nod to nature’s persistent beauty even in times of retreat. Sea green and peachy beige interweave throughout the collection, evoking serenity, warmth, and the delicate balance between solitude and renewal. These colors, much like the dream of The Peach Blossom Spring, suggest a longing for peace amidst disorder, a sanctuary found in stillness.

Sustainability is an intrinsic thread in this collection, both as a material practice and a conceptual foundation. The fashion industry, notorious for its wastefulness, consumes vast resources—over 700 gallons of water for a single cotton t-shirt—while millions of yards of fabric remain unused, left to stagnate in warehouses. Seeking Refuge disrupts this cycle by repurposing overstocked fabrics, transforming industrial excess into garments with new life. Patchwork, a recurring motif in the collection, is more than an aesthetic choice; it is a method of storytelling, stitching together remnants of the past to create something whole. Each patch, each seam, each fabric scrap reassembled into structured forms serves as a metaphor for resilience—an act of reconstruction both material and emotional.

Ultimately, Seeking Refuge is more than a collection—it is a meditation on solitude, protection, and human fragility. It reflects the contemporary condition of enforced isolation while drawing from ancient philosophies of retreat and introspection. These garments do not simply shield; they question the very nature of refuge. Are we escaping the world, or are we seeking a space to rediscover ourselves? In the quiet between crisis and recovery, between fear and freedom, this collection finds its voice.