I wanted to tie the hands so that you couldn’t use your phone.
– Ruree Lee

Yes, that’s right, Look 3 of Ruree Lee’s collection, Presence/Absence, can be worn with your hands tied to the front (or better, the back?).  Lee is sending a message about phone culture and our addiction to the screen. She says, “I wanted to make a fun message. Since the dress represents ‘touching phones’; the square print represents the screen and the organic embroidered shape represents the fingerprints. I wanted to tie the hands so that you couldn’t use your phone! So, I would say, this knot symbolizes a restriction of phone usage.”

Presence/Absence is showcased with the work of a select group of international designers in “CLOTH, Construct, CULTURE: fashion builds a story” … Here is a preview, a sneak peek of the work of Ruree Lee.

The power of technology is transformative, yet, cell phone addiction can be harmful to our well-being. Presence/Absence is based on Lee’s experience of loneliness through her use of texting.  She expressed “people are always on their phones” and her design is quite visual of what this looks like, right down to people’s posture and phone texting. 

Presence/Absence offers a contextualized dimension of texture and design that speaks to the story. Lee sums it up and says, “I find that sharing my personal experiences with societal issues and problems gives such a special meaning and feeling to my clothes and work. I wanted to share the visualization of the difference between humanism and the world that humans created through their phones. When you touch a person, the fingerprint doesn’t show on the skin, but you see it when you touch a phone. I wanted to capture that moment and somehow integrate that into my collection.”

Four ensembles on view that can ignite conversations around technology and its role in the loss of real-time human connection.

More About Ruree Lee

@ruree_lee_official
Ruree Lee website

More about Ruree Lee and Presence/Absence – “Presence/Absence”: What PHONE CULTURE Is Doing to Us | A Talk with Ruree Lee

Exhibition Details

CLOTH, Construct, CULTURE: fashion builds a story, curated by Rhonda P. Hill, 24 October 2023–24 January 2024, Parallax Art Center, Portland, Oregon, USA

Feature Photo: Ruree Lee, designer, “Presence/Absence”, 2018| Photographer, Sukjun @Sukjun