The "Cogito Ergo Sum" project is a concept-driven fashion collection by Alex Hwanyoo Lee, inspired by the famous phrase, "I think, therefore I am." The project reflects Alex’s personal journey of grappling with misconceptions about identity, largely influenced by the disorienting experience of moving to a new country at a young age. Spending much time in solitude during his teenage years, Alex’s introspection became the core of this collection, translating confusion and self-exploration into an artistic expression.

Rather than envisioning a customer, Alex focused on an audience. The goal of the project was to challenge conventional garment construction, using clothing as a metaphor for the way misconceptions can beautifully distort reality. By distorting the natural relationship between the garment and the human body or range of motion, Alex aimed to showcase the emotional and philosophical aspects of his experience.

The design process began by considering the skeleton, as it is the foundational structure that gives form to the body. Alex then explored different shapes of skeletons and drew inspiration from tents and boning used in couture to achieve the dynamic, distorted silhouettes. He physically distorted a tent to create the desired form, and from there, used boning to construct the foundational shapes of each look.

Material selection played a critical role in executing the collection's dynamic forms. The interplay between different fabrics—such as bi-stretch, regular stretch, knits, and woven materials—and the boning infrastructure dictated how the garments would hold their shape. The varying weights, stiffness, and stretch properties of the fabrics affected how the boning could support the overall silhouette, allowing Alex to learn about fabric characteristics and their interaction with structural techniques.

Ultimately, "Cogito Ergo Sum" is an exploration of identity through the lens of fashion, using clothing as a tool for self-reflection and encouraging the audience to do the same. The project represents the philosophy that fashion has no right or wrong answers but serves as a means to better understand oneself.