My senior thesis collection "Embrace" started from a desire to discover what beauty is, what is beautiful, and how beauty is defined based on my experiences. At the very beginning I knew there was an underlying statement on beauty, however I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what I wanted to convey at the time. Fascinated by the beauty of a flower I picked up, through close examination I began to look to flowers as a visual inspiration and metaphorical motif.
The groundwork of my collection started with a foundational belief that every human has been created uniquely. When looking at nature, no two flowers are identical. Flowers can be identified from afar, but the closer you examine a flower and pay attention to the details, you realize all the different details about a flower that make it even more beautiful. Similarly, with humans, the more you get to know someone, the more bits and pieces of them are revealed to you, and with that, they become even more beautiful to you.
Beauty is more than just what meets the eye. Beauty goes beyond one's first impression and physical appearance; beauty comes from the heart. A beautiful heart has been refined by the pain of heartache and loneliness and the hardships in life such as the loss of a friend or a loved one.
This collection is inspired by major events in my life that have shaped my character, values, beliefs, and outlook on life. The overall message of my collection is "embrace”, encouraging people to embrace themselves, embrace others, and let themselves be embraced by others. By recounting painful experiences of heartache, the loss of a loved one, trials and hardships, and the gift of friendship and the ability to share life with others, I’ve come to realize the importance of not just embracing others, but also myself; who God created me to be.
"but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious."
1 Peter 3:4
The 6 looks include:
the beauty of pain, imperfection, ephemerality, friendship, gentleness, and vulnerability.
Through the process of creating this collection, I was able to explore different fabric manipulation techniques to produce a library of textiles that scrutinize the beauty of imperfection and nature, starting with a delicate flower I picked up as my starting point.
"embrace" by Lauren Lee
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photography by
Lauren Lee & Joanne Lee
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cornell university
honors thesis
senior collection
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ithaca, new york
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