As Wilson said: when we wear clothes, our bodies are inscribed with an ambiguous relationship between art, personal psychology, and social order. Fanrui is a new-age fashion designer who is exploring the possibilities associated with the digital medium. Her craftsmanship nurtures the conceptual authenticity associated with one’s creative stimulation.

Fanrui, let's start with the oldest memory you hold of your involvement with technology. How did it begin to play out in your early progressing years? Any fun stories that you recall?

When I was a kid, I was really into matchmaking games like Dungeon Fighter and The King of Fighters, which were the first games to make me aware of the whole new universe that technology brought. Buying equipment, props, and clothing in games gave different looks and attributes to characters, but also brought about an early sense of clothing and identity that arose among players- a kind of society. These arise entirely in the digital world, which is like a simplified and diverse version of the real world, and it is fascinating for a child to have easy access to these unique looks

What is your precise academic background? Please tell us about your relationship with fashion and art, how did it all start?

I graduated from LAFA * Bunka International Fashion College, majoring in fashion design. Now I am studying at the Royal College of Arts, majoring in digital wear. While art is a deeper perspective on reality, fashion has a deep history of its own, reflecting the popular culture of different periods, which contains a complex relationship between the body and concepts of appearance, identity, surface, space, society, etc. These relationships give fashion more diverse possibilities, and therefore more responsibilities and obligations. As Wilson said: when we wear clothes, our bodies are inscribed with an ambiguous relationship between art, personal psychology, and social order. For me, as mentioned above, the aesthetics of fashion and the question of identity have been with me since I was a child, and by investigating the possibilities of fashion, I have been able to express myself through a unique perspective.

I'd like to know a bit about your artistic direction. What is the process for you to follow a particular design orientation? What intentions do you work through for your creative directions?

Since digital fashion is a brand-new field, everything in it has yet to be explored. I think my work is based on a passion to face a brand new field to explore its various possibilities: new forms, new ways of blending with other fields, and new technologies. In the design process, I draw on many mysterious and unfamiliar organic forms of sea creatures and elements of abstract art, and use the characteristics of digital technology, parameters/algorithms, etc., as an open methodology.

Speaking of creative direction and process… the metaverse world is beginning to pick up its pace, with which many brands and creatives are also opposing the idea of digital garments to keep textile craftsmanship alive. What do you have to say about the digital craftsmanship that needs to be understood well enough on the contrary?

I think I should be critical and aware of the possibilities and limitations of digital technology, especially its potential ethical and social issues. And take a fair look at different technologies, realize that they are really just different mediums and means, and remain passionate about exploring the diversity of digital means.

Please tell me what more distinctive you looking forward to inducing for such a space that is constantly evolving and growing. What it is like working with the inevitable developments of technology. Please describe the constant keep-ups that you have to work through.

I'm looking forward to more innovative technologies than just new visuals. And I am both excited and tired about working in technology because everything is changing so fast, bringing so many new things and giving me so much pressure. I also think we have to maintain the right ethics. We need to consider the relationship between technology and human beings and society.

We are transcending the idea of identity through digital identities. That is to also say that digital space is helping us view ourselves with a better perspective that directly affects our real, physical lives. What you'd like to say about your very own life experiences shifting because of your work?

In my work, I have explored the positive effects of digital identity for people with scoliosis and I have realized that the digital world has actually freed me from the physical world and allowed me to move and communicate more freely, which is a very positive thing and means that the power of the digital world goes much further than that.

Last but not the least, What do you think about the consequences of the metaverse? What we should stay alert or be mindful of while entering such a digital territory?

We need to be wary of the techno pollyanna brought about by the metaverse, which seems to have been over-promoted by the media and companies as if it were a beautiful fairy tale: Decentralization, freedom, equality, but data can be modified, the digital world can be whitewashed, we should be careful not to overlook the problems that still exist in the real world, disease/poverty/famine/pollution...