MASTERING THE MACHINE

ON the SURFACE, TECHNOLOGY HAS ENABLED SOME OF FASHION’S MOST JAW-DROPPING MOMENTS — from MECHANICAL DRESSES to ROCKET SHIP SHOW SETS. YET what GOES ON IN the ATELIER IS OFTEN SHROUDED in MYSTERY, EVEN IN A TIME when BIG DATA INFORMS the SILHOUETTES OF the CLOTHING IN YOUR WARDROBE, and WEARABLE TECH isn’t JUST A GADGET BUT A GARMENT. IN CONVERSATION WITH DESIGNERS and ARTISANS WHOSE CREATIVITY FLOWS IN TANDEM with TECHNOLOGY, ELLE SINGAPORE EXPLORES HOW THESE MAKERS DEFINE THEIR RELATIONSHIP with MACHINES

- ANDREA SIM

There are a handful of moments I distinctly remember — when fashion and technology converged spectacularly and made fireworks. For instance: Hussein Chalayan’s shape-shifting dress that emerged on the runway as a corset gown, before metamorphosing into a flapper dress. When Issey Miyake’s computer-woven steam stretch fabric made for ultra-lightweight, structural garments that were mind-blowingly impervious to creases. In recent years, it’s the immersive CGI fashion shows put on by Chinese designers that rival Marvel productions. The arrival of Bolt Threads’ labgrown leather that’s akin to the Impossible meat substitute for garment manufacture, and yarns that are computer coded into stitch-specific knitwear designs, bypassing the stages of fabric weaving and pattern-cutting.

For the fashion enthusiast looking in from the outside, technology has done well in levelling up the industry’s appetite for showmanship and artistic expression. A rocket ship actually saw lift-off at a Chanel runway show. Robots spray-painted a dress at Alexander McQueen. Louis Vuitton has Keepalls where its house monogram lights up, changing colour with a few taps of the phone. Many of these ‘gram and news flash moments inundate our feed, but we still understand very little of what actually goes on behind the scenes.