Microcore is a risograph-led project by Tanya Tang that takes a critical look at the rise of micro-trends within the fashion industry. Rooted in both personal experience and wider cultural observation, the project uses print and metaphor to question how quickly trends are created, consumed, and discarded, and what that cycle means for sustainability.
Tang’s starting point was an increasing frustration with how fashion trends now operate. Social media plays a central role, producing a constant stream of content that encourages rapid consumption and equally rapid abandonment. Fashion brands respond at speed, forecasting trends and moving them into production almost immediately. While this responsiveness can appear exciting on the surface, it leaves behind a trail of unwanted garments that do not disappear as quickly as the trends themselves. Instead, they accumulate in landfills or are exported to countries already overwhelmed by textile waste.
The concept for Microcore took shape after Tang interned at a fashion company and saw this process from the inside. Watching trends move from prediction to production at such speed made her reconsider her own relationship with clothing and consumption. She began questioning whether purchases were driven by genuine preference or simply by exposure to the latest online micro-trend. Although the environmental impact of fast fashion is widely discussed, Tang noticed that micro-trends themselves often escape scrutiny, masked by their playful names and constant reinvention.
Visually, the project draws on a nostalgic paper doll format. This choice acts as a metaphor for the fragility and short lifespan of micro-trends. Like paper dolls, these trends are delicate, easily replaced, and rarely built to last. The medium reinforces the message, with the inherent impermanence of paper echoing the disposability of trend-driven fashion. By referencing a familiar childhood object, Tang creates an entry point that feels accessible while carrying a more serious underlying critique.
The work is produced as a duo-colour risograph print, a process Tang is particularly drawn to for its tactile qualities. The grain, ink bleed, and occasional imperfections of riso printing add a human presence to the work, standing in contrast to the slick, algorithm-driven systems that fuel trend culture. Texture plays a key role throughout the project, adding depth and character while reinforcing the physicality of print as a medium for reflection rather than instant consumption.
Rather than offering solutions, Microcore functions as a prompt. It asks viewers to pause and consider how easily they are pulled into cycles of temporary desire, and what it means to buy into something designed to expire almost immediately. In doing so, the project reflects Tang’s own growing awareness of how trends shape behaviour, and how design and print can be used to question systems that often go unchallenged.
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