Metamorphosis

Members of Eastern and Western cultures have substantial disparity in their understanding of the body. Consequently, a distinct ‘dress-body relationship’ has evolved within each culture. Western dress physically frames the body and reflects the perpetual change of ideal body. In this way, it has never been free from the body. Unlike its Western counterpart, the Eastern dress displays an independent relation to the body. Dress seldom dictates the body’s shape. Inspired by such ‘dress-body relationship’, Metamorphosis aimed to use innovative design principles to represent the visual dynamics of deconstructing the fixed boundaries between dress and body. Three-dimensional printed hexagons and triangles were devised to allow a continuous transformation between 3-dimensional body-conforming and 2-dimensional body-defying silhouettes of the garment. This design project realized different dress-body relationships established in the Eastern and Western cultures and demonstrated how cutting-edge technology could broaden the spectrum of creativity and increase feasibility through the design process