3Dtachable: What do you show the world, and what do you keep to yourselves?

When I started working on this collection, I asked myself a simple question: What do we choose to show the world, and what do we choose to hide?

3Dtachable

is more than a fashion statement. To me, it’s a conversation about identity, perception, and mindful consumption in a digital world. It was born from reflections on the gap between our physical selves and the personas we build online, and on how what’s real, what’s fabricated, and what’s accepted is constantly changing.

Virtual identity is the social identity through which we present and define ourselves online: we put a mask over our real identity to appear as we would like our friends to see us. It’s an opportunity to present ourselves strategically and create an image of ourselves in the eyes of others, sometimes ignoring who we really are.

When we upload a video to TikTok, a photo to Facebook, or a reel to Instagram, each one presents a version of reality that reflects what we want people to think of us, not who we really are. We choose to show only the happy moments and flattering photos, and tend not to post negative things so that the friends who see them won’t think negatively of us.

Social media, then, is an illusion, a simulacrum—a fake copy of something that isn’t real. This inspiration is expressed in the collection in two ways:

1. COLLAPSIBLES: Elements of flattening: what we show to the outside world isn’t the same as what we really feel. We present who we want others to think we are, not who we really are.

2. DETACHABLES: Elements that can be pulled out and put back, allowing the wearer to choose how they look. The wearer can decide at any given moment whether or not to show certain elements—much like choosing what to post on social media, what to make visible, and what not to.

This collection was also featured in Design Milk: 

״A thought-provoking series, designer Liat Brandel’s 3Dtachable collection plays with layers of identity: what we choose to show the world and what we choose to hide. Simple shapes create patterns and connect to form remarkable depth within the fabric as its surface folds down to a fraction of its original size. Brandel says, “3Dtachable is more than a fashion statement—it’s a conversation about identity, perception, and mindful consumption in a digital world.”