This collection draws inspiration from a personal experience I had last year when I stayed at a behavioral hospital for one week to receive treatment for mental illness. The hospital stay was a challenging experience that required a lot of time and energy to recover—both mentally and physically.
During my time in the hospital, I struggled with physical discomfort, difficulty communicating and constant monitoring every 15 minutes. Despite the hardships, the experience enabled me to break away from the stresses of my previous living environment and academic pressures, showing me a completely different way of living.
I didn’t want to create a collection that was too “heavy” or critical of my hospital experience; rather, I aimed to re-create the warm and gentle atmosphere that enveloped patients. Instead of focusing on the monitoring and restrictions, I wanted to highlight the hospital’s capacity for compassionate care and unlimited support in the name of love, and how this intersects simultaneously with the feeling of oppressiveness. My collection aims to capture this complex duality and communicate the nuances of my hospital experience.
In the Hospital Look 1, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
In the Hospital Look 2, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
In the Hospital Look 3, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
In the Hospital Look 4, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
In the Hospital Look 5, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
In the Hospital Look 6, 2023
Photo by Eric Lu, Christopher Macsurak, James Prinz, Edit by Ya Liu
This collection draws inspiration from a personal experience I had last year when I stayed at a behavioral hospital for one week to receive treatment for mental illness. The hospital stay was a challenging experience that required a lot of time and energy to recover—both mentally and physically.
During my time in the hospital, I struggled with physical discomfort, difficulty communicating and constant monitoring every 15 minutes. Despite the hardships, the experience enabled me to break away from the stresses of my previous living environment and academic pressures, showing me a completely different way of living.
I didn’t want to create a collection that was too “heavy” or critical of my hospital experience; rather, I aimed to re-create the warm and gentle atmosphere that enveloped patients. Instead of focusing on the monitoring and restrictions, I wanted to highlight the hospital’s capacity for compassionate care and unlimited support in the name of love, and how this intersects simultaneously with the feeling of oppressiveness. My collection aims to capture this complex duality and communicate the nuances of my hospital experience.
As a fashion designer, I am passionate about creating wearable art. The theme of my work is my personal interpretation of all things presented to me. My design process begins with painting and collage: I am skilled at using visual language to express things that have been abstracted. I believe that fashion is more than just clothing: It is a form of self-expression and storytelling. My brushstrokes on the clothes represent a collision of color and material. I find that using colors and materials to organize chaos—busy color and rich, intense texture—can give my work power that is palpable.