Sympoyetic Assemblages: From Biomimetics to a More-Thank Human Ecology of fashion

Fashion has long engaged nature as both a formal and material field, a reservoir of forms through which the discipline negotiates its relationship with matter and time. This contribution investigates the progressive transformation of this condition, tracing a shift from an initial conception of nature as a formal referent to be imitated, toward the operationalisation of biological principles and behavioural logics, until nature itself emerges no longer as a passive referent, but as an active co-agent within contemporary design processes. Through the analysis of selected fashion practices, the contribution traces a trajectory from digitally mediated forms of computational biomorphism to functional biomimesis, and toward post-anthropocentric forms of ontological design in which non-human agencies increasingly participate in the constitution of the project itself.. The concept of Sympoietic Assemblages serves as a critical lens through which these developments are interpreted. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s notion of assemblage and Donna Haraway’s theory of sympoiesis, the contribution outlines the emergence of a relational ecology of design in which form, meaning, and agency emerge through processes of co-constitution. Keywords: