Coming out of this panel, I now understand a lot more about the interaction between 3-D printing and fashion. I had thought that once the dress was coded, it could be fed into the 3-D printing machine and printed in full form. Instead, usually the dress is designed using 3-D printed pieces. The technology will then print all of the pieces you instruct it to, and you still have to construct the final item with your hands. Thus, these types of designs are considered a collaboration between manus (hands) x machina (machine).
As an example, for their 'Bahai' dress, threeASFOUR established a unit they called a weave. They wanted the weave to replicate in a repeating pattern; using math and fractal geometry, they ensured that there were 6 levels of repetitions with every unit interlocking. Once they were able to code this dress, they sent the data over to Materialise to print the pieces. At this point, their creation was out of their hands, and they had to rely on the 3-D printing company to execute their vision. Once the pieces were printed and sent back to threeASFOUR, every piece needed to be attached by hand to create the final dress:
However, the artists went on to describe how 3-D printing technology can disrupt the current state fashion industry. They further expanded on the previous topic, noting that 3-D printing as it is now is best used as a tool, useful for creating couture pieces and accessories. But for more common items like shirts, it doesn't make sense to use 3-D printers from a cost or a materials perspective. The market still needs to grow, especially in terms of the types of materials that can be used to print. The key to growing the 3-D printing market is to emphasize its ability to transform a decentralized manufacturing process into a centralized one. Right now, the current model happens like this: you buy your item online; it is made in China and then shipped here to the U.S. threeASFOUR states that this is not sustainable; with 3-D printing, you can send data to a local printing facility and consequently obtain your items locally. This concept would transform the manufacturing part of the fashion industry, changing the way people buy their clothes and bringing the practice back onto U.S. soil.
Building upon that idea, you will also be able to more easily customize your clothing. Currently scanning technology exists (cheaply too, for ~$20!), but it's not available mainstream yet. Soon they will have scanners available on laptops. When this happens, you can download the basic data and software for the item you want (such as a dress), scan your body so that the dress will fit perfectly, and customize it with patterns and shapes before you send it to the local printer for pickup. Can you even imagine?!?! This is incredible!
threeASFOUR added a side note on education in schools- because data is becoming increasingly important, and to be able to customize your own dress you will need to be able to code and manipulate data, it should really now be an integral piece of education. I guess it time to start taking those coding classes- the possibilities are endless!
I came out of the panel really pumped up and excited about what I had learned. I was also totally ready to see the exhibit! The Met was gorgeously lit up with pink lights when we entered; a DJ was spinning some top 40s tunes, and everyone was in various stages of dressed up or dressed down. I saw a girl who had a really cool (hand-designed?) crop top that looked like she had 3-D printed it herself. There were tall girls with black leather jackets, others wearing flowing gowns, and more draped in fake leopard fur coats. Some guys were dressed in tuxes, others in jeans and sneakers. It was all over the place, and it was amaaaaazing! I wore a black tank with a silver mesh beaded tank over it, a statement necklace made of bold blue feathers, and an embossed silver leather vest trimmed with white fur. Finished off with black jeans and black boots to keep it simple on the bottom. I unfortunately didn't take any full-length photos of myself, I'll do better next time. See photos below:
The famous Chanel dress with the long gold beaded train was the centerpiece of the top floor. This dress is featured on a lot of the promotional flyers for the exhibition. There were sections that seemed to had more solely hand-created pieces, with lacework, hand painting, and beading. Then, there were other areas where the creations were edgier, using more interesting materials. There were dresses made of straws, feathers dipped in some type of ink, clear acrylic tubes, etc. And finally there were the pieces made using 3-D printing technology and laser cutting techniques. My fave Iris van Herpen, who I write about a lot, had multiple pieces shown in this exhibit. Her items were always quite skeletal; my favorite was a pinkish orange piece that looked like a piece of coral. I made some collages below:
~burn bright~
Jess