Zach Lenett

The approach toward the 1.5°C global warming threshold signals a shift from stable climates to sustained environmental instability. Environments once considered safe begin to mirror the pressures of extreme landscapes where exposure, uncertainty, and adaptation become constant. What was once distant—reserved for expeditions, summits, and remote terrains—begins to merge into daily life. This project expands from the engagement with psychological and environmental research on fear, extreme conditions, and the evolving climate crisis. It examines the moment in which the body transitions under pressure, when hesitation is replaced by instinct, and awareness sharpens into action. The question is no longer how one performs at the edge, but how one functions when the edge moves inward.

Clothing, in this context, can no longer remain static, it must operate as an adaptable system. By studying the major weather forces — drought, coastal floods, heat/wild fires, storm cycles, and wind—Survival Psychology becomes a tool for navigating uncertainty and maintaining control under environmental stress. Through modularity and adaptability, garments extend beyond fixed purpose. There is no clear point at which conditions become extreme, only a gradual loss of what once felt stable. Material systems include rubber cement, thermochromic dye, emergency fire blankets, and waxed canvas responding to environmental change. 

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Photography:

Santiago Cerillo

Models:

Paul Lee

James Terrazass

Griffin Ellis