Too Techy For Your Shirt?

High-tech fashion invades the runway.

- Pat Calica

Eccentric designs are in no way rare or unique in the fashion world, especially in the catwalk, where designers are always going far and beyond to showcase their art, style, and brand to their esteemed audience. What makes the piece described above more different, though, is the process involved in creating the ensemble. Bridging the gap between handcrafted couture and machine-made clothing, Dutch high-tech couture designer Iris van Herpen utilized an obscure type of 3D printer to create the Anthozoa Cape and Skirt, along with the other pieces in her Voltage collection for Spring 2013. In this piece, we will look at how the hottest technological advancements empower the highest form of fashion art and in turn, how haute couture exhibits the unlimited potential of technology by crafting rule-bending forms and features.

FASHIONABLY TECHY

The word “technology” tends to conjure up images of digital and software-based devices, but the term may also indicate a way of thinking rooted in creativity and innovation. Meanwhile, fashion has always been forward-thinking, constantly changing, and full of never-ending trends and new or reimagined ideas. That is why technology, in the second sense, functions perfectly in tandem with the fashion industry. It is also not a far-fetched idea for the first definition of technology to spring up in terms of fashion. The invention of the sewing machine, for example, allowed for the establishment of standard sizes and large volume production, while the application of 3D printing in fashion continues to be explored. From the simplest apparatus to complex machineries, tech has enabled designers and brands to execute their wildest creations and latest concepts.