Life Cycles & Natural Decay in Fashion

Fallen Garden began with a simple observation: the most beautiful moment of a flower is not its peak bloom but the instant before it falls. This research surveys artists and designers who have engaged with decay as aesthetic: Vanitas still-life painters, Alexander McQueen's 'Sarabande' collection, the rotting fruit photography of Maciej Zaborski.

The collection's four looks map directly onto four stages of botanical decay: dawn (L1, pale pink satin, dew-fresh), midday (L2, deeper rose, full bloom), twilight (L3, muted mauve, petals beginning to curl), and midnight (L4, almost black, the final surrender).

Japanese wabi-sabi philosophy underpins this — the acceptance that impermanence and incompleteness are not flaws but the very essence of beauty.