IMPERMANENCE 

Thesis 2025 Collection

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Styling Tutorial with Danqi Qi

 

Tianyun’s thesis collection “Permanence” dissects the life cycle of a garment into three stages—Form, Wear, and Reform—challenging the idea that clothing should remain in its original, pristine state. First comes Form, where the garment is an untouched blueprint, its patterns and fabric pieces full of possibility. Then comes Wear, the stage where it begins to collect traces of life—creases, stains, stretched seams—each mark a testament to movement and time. Finally, Reform emerges, where the garment is reshaped, repaired, or reimagined, proving that clothing, like identity, is never static but always in flux. She captures these stages in her collection through material interventions—allowing garments to stretch, stain, and fray, while embracing the construction process and visible repairs. By treating clothing as a living archive, it reveals that clothing is never—and should never be—confined to the pristine perfection of a product photo on a retailer’s site. A garment does not end when it is purchased; it is only beginning.

 

 

With a background in drawing and painting, she often treats garments like blank canvases, using light-colored base fabrics that she builds upon with print, texture, and delicate detailing—allowing the piece to evolve much like a work of painting. She creates garments that exist in a space between conceptualism and practicality, where deconstruction and function coexist. Visible seams, detachable straps, and versatile attachment pieces invite the wearer to take part in the creative process. She embraces unexpected details and imperfections that reveal the garment’s evolving story—stains, creases, loose threads, and sewing inconsistencies as intentional details rather than mistakes. 

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Tianyun often finds inspiration in mundane, everyday objects that change with time, appreciating how the smallest shifts can alter an object’s significance. She is particularly drawn to the act of recording change, influenced by interactive and performative conceptual artworks by artists like Yoko Ono and Tehching Hsieh, whose work explores different perspectives and transforms ordinary moments into profound acts of transformation.

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She hopes her designs inspire viewers to reconsider their relationship with clothing—not as static possessions, but as evolving objects that gather meaning over time. By embracing wear, alteration, and reinvention, her work encourages a shift away from passive consumption toward a more interactive, personal engagement with fashion. For Tianyun, fashion is an ongoing dialogue, where garments are meant to evolve alongside those who wear them.

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