LAURENCE WEI
IN HOPES TO DIE LIKE MOLD
GENERAL EXPERIMENT, at its core is driven by storytelling- each piece and collection is intentionally crafted acting as a vessel for deeply personal narratives. The brand prioritizes concept, memory, emotion, reflection, and lived experience as foundational elements which are translated into a wearable form, allowing garments to carry meaning beyond what is seen. Clothing becomes a medium through which complex, often vulnerable ideas are expressed- challenging the viewer to engage not only with what they see, but with how they feel.
Without a story, there is no meaning- and without meaning, no purpose.
This collection was not created for the sake of fashion, but for the sake of feeling. It is about absence as much as presence, and the stories that live in what remains unsaid. Textures echo the deterioration of memory; silhouettes distort, collapse, and cling like fragile recollections. Materials were chosen not just for how they look, but for what they can hold- whether it’s tension, fragility, or the softness of something once known.
Through intentional construction and symbolic detailing, GENERAL EXPERIMENT challenges viewers to look past the garment’s form and ask deeper questions about identity, loss, memory, and meaning.
Bio
Laurence Wei is a Chinese-American designer based in New York, whose work merges conceptual ideologies with emotional resonance. As the founder and creative director of GENERAL EXPERIMENT, he approaches fashion as a language of storytelling- where garments serve as translations for memory, introspection, and lived experience.
Shaped by his personal history and experiences, Wei draws from intimate recollections and emotional fragments to inform his design process. Through thoughtful silhouettes, experimental construction, and symbolic material choices, he reimagines the garment as more than form or function- as a translation for meaning. His work challenges not only what clothing can be, but what it can hold: tension, tenderness, remembrance.
In 2024, Laurence was recognized and awarded by CFDA and Vogue as a Design Scholar, honoring innovation and exemplary talent. His work has also been featured in publications such as Office Magazine and Nasty Magazine, marking him as an emerging voice shaping the future of design.
Through GENERAL EXPERIMENT, he continues to explore the intersections of vulnerability and form that is not just seen, but felt- fashion as a quiet act of reflection, and clothing as a form of living memory.