Ap0cene Builds Character is an identity piece. What is it we’re doing every day we dress up? Creating a distinct identity, styling ourselves into something we believe nobody else could be? Yet you can’t dismiss the power of your own influence. But if it isn’t strictly us we become, then, as the tabloid writer asks, who are we wearing? Are we just a signifier for a subculture or a walking billboard for a brand?

If we think about it longer than a second, we know that what we choose to wear is something else entirely, that our style is always a link in a complex web of creation implicating those we admire—designers, stylists, artists, builders—and just as often as not, those we don’t know to. Outsiders haven’t caught on to what so many fashion-conscious people already believe to be true: shopping is recognitive, we love who we wear because they make us who we are.

Ap0cene Builds Character is a celebration of the designers, the shoppers, and all those missing links in between, together you build character.