ncestry and lineage remain essential                              values in Chinese culture. And I am.                                unable to connect with it as an adoptee.                          Through fashion and art, I wanted to learn to love the place I came from and make it my own. Over the summer, I was finally given the opportunity to visit my hometown for the first time. And while it gave me a sense of fulfillment and appreciation for the place I came from, the more I fell in love with it, the more I was filled with grief, hurting for something that I had never known.

​          For my theme, I wanted to explore both my love of Chinese culture and the grief I experience as an adoptee. While looking for inspiration, I was transfixed by the ancient artifact ritual bronzes, with their beautiful, intricate patterns and the meaning they held. Ritual bronzes were primarily used for ancestral worship, symbolizing reverence for lineage and the continuity of family ties. In a way, these bronzes were used to connect with ancestors; this collection is to help me connect with mine.

​          Inspired by mourning cloths and ritual bronzes, I wanted there to be a focus on the knitwear, a soft fabric to mimic the iconography reminiscent of these ritual bronzes. For example, I incorporated raised cable stitching to mimic the swirling motifs found on the bronzes, and each piece is constructed from many knit panels carefully seamed together, similar to how these artifacts were constructed. Each look reflects a gradual change in fabric choice and color. Transitioning from black to the traditional white of Chinese mourning attire. It serves as a symbolic narrative that represents how grief grows and seeps into you.