Soul Decay
A tie-dyed digital garment, seated among glowing metal skeletons.
Soul Decay is a digital fashion piece I made in Beijing in 2023. It brings traditional Chinese tie-dye together with artificial technology to imagine a body enhanced by machines: inorganic parts are fitted inside and outside the body, yet the body still does its own thinking and moving. The figure sits among glowing metal animal skeletons, some of them extinct dinosaurs.
Design
The garment is built around tie-dye: a loose outer robe in blue tie-dyed fabric, worn over metallic pieces that look as if they have grown into the body. The setting uses the same two elements, tie-dye and metal. On a floor of blue and white tie-dye patterns, a ring of glowing metal animal skeletons surrounds the figure. I chose extinct dinosaur skeletons on purpose. Their structures are precise and complete, showing both the wonder of making and the intricacy of living bodies.
Inspiration
We created technology and believe we are in control of it, just as the body in this work commands its devices with its own mind. But technology acts back on us. It can even consume the soul, leaving us emptier inside and slowly decaying. The skeletons around the figure speak not only of the fate of these animals, but of a possible future for us: a turn toward complete nothingness. I hope viewers can move through past and future here, and feel extinction and rebirth at the same time.
- Role
- Digital Fashion Designer
- Location
- Beijing, China
- Digital Fashion Design
- Jinming
