Jennifer Zhu

MORPHOGENESIS

• How Can Material Innovation Bring Biomorphics Into Fashion?
• How Can We Reinvent the Relationship Between The Most Primitive and The Most Sophisticated Life Forms?
• What is the new profile of luxury menswear under the circumstances of sustainable fashion and industrial digitisation?

The background of ‘Morphogensis’ derives from my reflection on the contemporary beauty criteria. It then casts a projection onto the mens’ knitwear, where my physical design works sit in, as discarding of hegemonic masculinity.

The collection is hugely inspired by biophomic artists including Ruth Asawa, Louise Bourgeois, Antoni Gaudí and on. Introduced by Isabel Wünsche, biomorphic is a style of artistic expression identified with nature-centric or biologically-shaped approaches.  From the case studies on the artists, I find out clues of their approaches through their diary, sketches and prototyping process. More importantly, I go back to the original biology paper and books they might refer to. Then, I follow the ‘generative’ methods and carry out my primary studies using informatics tools (Grasshopper). The last step is to transfer my outcomes into textiles and components through knitting machines and digital fabrication.

I turned to Damir Doma, Boris Bidjam, JW Anderson and on for the silhouette and range plan. I also looked up the fashion works of product designer Sculi Recht. As an ‘outsider’, he derived cutting ideas from the panels on industrial products and ergonomics, with still clear but modern masculinity as self-recognition in his outfits.

Learnt from the product designer’s perception of his favourite fashion products-basically designed by and for himself-I realized that the modern luxury menswear should concern the welfare of the very men who would wear the garment. When sketching and developing the silhouettes, I followed the keywords given by Sculi in the campaign video …AND TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO:

Draped, Refined, Digital.