Rather than using 3D printing technology to recreate garments that could otherwise be fabricated from conventionally manufactured textiles, it is being seen as a tool for reimagining the very foundations of the relationship between the human body and its clothing. At the 2015 New York Fashion Week, a particularly striking example of this new frontier sashayed down the catwalk as Chromat‘s Momentum line.
Sure the clothing all has style, flair, and pizzazz, all of the customary ingredients expected of haute couture, but the difference between these pieces and all the others doesn’t lie wholly in its appearance. It’s much deeper than that. Working closely with Intel, they developed a Curie Module, a small device that allows inputs to change the garments as they are worn.
Two pieces in particular, the Adrenaline Dress and the Aeros Sports Bra, included in the Momentum line utilize the Curie Module in combination with material that is 3D printed out of shape memory alloys. This gives both of these garments the potential to react to specific input from the wearer’s body.
The Adrenaline Dress is fabricated from carbon fiber and neoprene activated by a shape memory allow that expands as the wearer’s adrenaline levels rise. Shape memory alloys, also known as smart metals, are themselves a fascinating material because of their ability to react in specific ways to changes in a particular input. These metals have been integrated into architectural design, such as window shades whose metals retract when cool and extend when heated to automatically modulate the light coming in through the window in relationship to the temperature of the room.
3D print design is attributed to Francis Bitoni Studio, behind several other incredible 3D printed fashion pieces we’ve seen, and the actual 3D printing was done by Voodoo Manufacturing. 3D body scanning is credited to Sketchfab.
The founder of Chromat, Becca McCharen, is an architect and designer and these garments reflect both that background and the possibilities present when combining knowledge from a wide array of fields. Obviously not meant to move directly from runway to store rack, these pieces do, however, offer a glimpse of what the future of clothing might look like.
What are your thoughts on this 3D printed dress? Discuss in the Adrenaline Dress forum thread on 3DPB.com.Check out the runway below: