Finding Beauty in Imperfection

The central idea of Yu-Chen Lin’s graduate collection is to celebrate the aesthetics of visible repair and to embrace imperfection of everyday dress. The collection is a dialogue between renewal and repair, an exploration of the beauty within imperfection by drawing inspiration from the Japanese philosophies of wabi-sabi, sashiko, and kintsugi. Embedded within the harsh embrace of the Finnish winter, this collection serves as a visual narrative of personal resilience and transformation.

– I think imperfection gives me the flexibility and freedom to create garments. It guided the whole process, Lin explains.

In the collection, Lin studied her own everyday life in Finland, paying special attention to the weather which is different from her native home. Furthermore, she also explored the internal and external experiences between herself, materials, and everyday life. She focused on the tattered beauty of broken textiles and aimed to reuse and repair them to give them a new life. In the process, repairing became a metaphor for overcoming her experiences of struggling with the harsh Finnish winter.

– At its core, my collection delves into the reinterpretation of imperfection, shifting its complication from a flaw to a source of inherent beauty. Like the delicate art of kintsugi, where broken ceramics are mended with precious metals, I wanted to embrace the visible scars of damage as intricate golden pathways to renewal.

These imperfections, rather than detracting from the essence of the garment, reflected her own narrative of growth and healing.

– This process transcended mere functionality, evolving into an intimate exchange where the materials themselves dictate the final form, guided by the golden threads of repair. The collection is not just a showcase of fashion, but a living tableau of transformation – a visual symphony that resonates with the rhythms of nature and the human spirit.

Through the interplay of texture, form, and narrative, each garment became a vessel for personal empowerment – a tangible reminder that imperfection, far from being a flaw, is a testament to the richness and depth of human experience.

Contact information:

Yu-Chen Lin

yu-chen.lin@aalto.fi

+358 466150168

@0_yuchen