THE BIO-ARCHIVE by Menos 117 brings biology, science, and design to the body.

For its latest collection, Mexican fashion label Menos 117 approaches the body as a territory of study and clothing as an evolving interface between biology and design.

Created by designer Yunuen Hernández, THE BIO-ARCHIVE explores skin as memory, surface, and a system of information. Each garment is conceived as a specimen: evidence of a quiet evolution between the human body, cultivated materials, and technical construction.

Within this universe, biomaterials become new epidermises. Translucent, dimensional, and responsive to touch, they reveal a restrained and clinical expression of luxury. The collection imagines a future in which wearing becomes a way of inhabiting science, design behaves like biology, and biology becomes a form of art.

One material, multiple expressions

THE BIO-ARCHIVE incorporates three distinct expressions of Celium™, Polybion’s Premium Cultivated Cellulose.

Celium™ Manto appears in translucent black and greenish-grey variations, allowing light, the body, and the construction of each garment to remain partially visible through the material.

Celium™ Espumante is presented in its natural bone tone, with a dimensional surface that resembles clusters of bubbles and reveals the patterns formed during its cultivation and transformation.

The collection also introduces bone-toned Celium™ Espumante combined with red and blue biofabricated colors. Developed through a subculture process, these colors expand the material’s visual language while maintaining the texture, volume, and organic variation of its surface.

Together, the different applications demonstrate Celium’s ability to move between translucency, pigmentation, texture, and structure. The same cultivated material adapts to the designer’s cold, elegant, and technically precise vision while retaining the characteristics that emerge through biological growth.

This versatility allows Celium™ to become part of markedly different creative worlds. Its identity remains visible, while its expression changes according to color, finish, construction, and context.

Experimentation as part of the design process

Working with a new material required Yunuen Hernández and the Menos 117 team to understand how Celium™ responded to cutting, stitching, machinery, and garment construction.

The development process included testing different needle gauges, adjusting equipment, and identifying the techniques that produced the strongest visual and structural results.

“My experience working with the material was very positive and interesting. At first, I thought it would be more complex because it was completely new to me, but its manipulation is actually very similar to that of legacy materials.

As with any new material, there was a process of experimentation to understand its behavior and find the best way to work with it: defining the right needle gauge, adjusting the machinery, and discovering the techniques that offered the best results. I see this process as a natural part of developing any textile innovation.”

— Yunuen Hernández, Creative Director of Menos 117

The collection also incorporates textiles developed with X-ray imagery, technological waste, and prints applied to lower-impact fabrics, building a broader material narrative around scientific observation, discarded systems, and responsible experimentation.

A biofabricated wardrobe

In THE BIO-ARCHIVE, raw and technical surfaces coexist with metallic, translucent, and organic elements. The garments move between softness and structure, opacity and light, biological irregularity and controlled construction.

The result is a wardrobe that treats material as information. Every surface records a process: bacterial growth, pigmentation, transformation, cutting, assembly, and wear.

THE BIO-ARCHIVE was presented at the 85th edition of Intermoda, one of Mexico’s leading fashion business platforms.

Selected pieces are currently available through IKAL, Proyecto República, and directly through Menos 117’s Instagram. The collection will soon be available through the brand’s website and at an upcoming pop-up in Mexico City.