XIN-RU LIM

Beneath the skin lies a network of tissues. Breathing allows oxygen to enter the body, where it is carried through the blood to these tissues, sustaining our everyday lives. In the constant exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, countless subtle and almost imperceptible changes continue to take place within the body. Over time, these changes quietly accumulate and are reflected on our faces, forming another kind of wrinkle. We look at these wrinkles and try to adjust or smooth them out, only for new folds to appear again. This cyclical process fills our lives until the very last moment of life.

This design began with an experience of physical pain, from which emerged an exploration of habit and adaptation.

Breathing is one of the most natural and unconscious human actions, yet we rarely notice that incorrect breathing patterns over time may stem from postural imbalance. This, in turn, can affect muscle memory, causing the body to gradually form fixed patterns and eventually become trapped in a cycle that is difficult to perceive.

I began to wonder whether a similar relationship also exists between the body and the external environment. Might our dependence on society, modes of living, and the environment around us also unconsciously create a kind of “solidified adaptation”? The habits we take for granted may not truly suit us; perhaps pain has simply not yet surfaced, or we have grown so accustomed to them that we have gradually lost the ability to sense them.

Through this collection, I explore the relationship between the body, the environment, and adaptation, while reimagining the possibility of clothing as an extension of the body—like a second skin that enables people to become aware once again of the subtle and ongoing changes between themselves and their surroundings.