Tech and Fashion: Strange, Awesome Bedfellows

Arthur C. Clarke once said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Though what first comes to mind when you think of technology may not be soft fabric and gowns, it is one of the most interesting new frontiers of tech.

And looking at the lines that have cropped up since the turn of the millennium, it’s hard to argue that technology hasn’t added something a bit magical to fashion.

Once fashion moved into the realm of mass production, it was a short road until the industry started developing as quickly as technology: nylon, rayon, elastic, polyester and spandex are all relatively new fabric innovations (late 1800s to mid 1900s) that made entirely new cuts and shapes of clothing possible.

We’ve since moved on from the plastic age, and now from the runways to flash sale sites to the corporate offices of Pepsi, designers have been embracing the new methods of design and production available to them with the sophistication of computers and computer graphics.

Here’s a rundown of some of the most important digital revolutions to have hit the fashion industry since 2000, and the programs, machines and designers that made them happen.

Prints in 3D

Being able to print out a necklace isn’t something most people would find necessary. But since the invention of the 3D materials printer and the sophistication of CAD and design programs, designers have been using a technology meant to print circuits, for shoes and jewelry.

Nervous System creates jewelry and housewares based on biological patterns (algae, neurons and xylem) that are coded and printed rather than sketched and sculpted. The results are impossibly lacy cuffs, and earrings and necklaces that look just like microscope slides; something that has never been done, and has never been possible before.

The company also has a revolutionary approach to sharing design: they publish their programs (the equivalent of a blueprint or pattern for their pieces) for anyone with a 3D materials printer to use and replicate.

Another company to utilize computer programming in their designs is United Nude. Though they do carry more traditional footwear, their most recognizable and iconic shoe, the Lo-Res, is created using a digital modeling technique that cuts the shoe from a single piece of rubber.

Andreia Chaves also uses a 3D printer for her shoes. She designs with algorithms and equations more than she does with pen and paper, and the footwear she creates shows it (they’re more suited to museum display than actual wear).

Chaves’ Invisible Pumps are created in three parts: a printer creates the cage-like nylon shell of the shoes and Andreia melds this shell with a more traditional pump to form a solid piece before attaching mirrors to the geometric, angular frame. The finished product is a shoe that reflects its environment so well it’s about as visible as the CGI on Harry Potter’s Cloak of Invisibility.

Old Looks, New Methods

Fabrics with elaborate cut-outs, brocades and embroidery patterns used to be marks of wealth and expensive taste. Now they’re available pretty much everywhere, thanks to the mechanization of fabric production.

Laser-cutting, though seen everywhere from H&M blouses to Alexander McQueen leathers, is a fairly new technique used to cut precise lines in all types of fabrics, effectively allowing designers to create lace out of anything.

Commercial embroidery machines have also been computerized: digital files of embroidery patterns are uploaded to the machine, and can be replicated perfectly and cheaply thousands of times over. And rather than have someone making sure the machine doesn’t go haywire in the middle of a run, there are watchdog programs that can also be installed into the machine to stop it, start it, and alert someone if something goes wrong.

Odd Components

Perhaps in a nod to the sci-fi movies set in our own day and age (which we have fallen woefully short of in terms of flying cars and robot best friends), designers like Marc Jacobs, Marni, and Balenciaga have been using more and more futuristic materials (PVC, metallic weaves, hard plastics) in their work.

And though big designers have been pushing themselves with unconventional materials for a long time, it’s never before been possible to use recyclables in a high-end way that wasn’t kitschy or, well, recycled-looking.

But will.i.am and Coca Cola’s Ekocycle project aims to partner with fashion brands to create pieces made from exclusively recycled materials, and to make buying things made from exclusively recycled materials cool.

The first fruits of the partnership are a pair of Beats by Dre headphones that retail for $349 and a New Era hat for $32. Neither one of these pieces looks like it’s made of repurposed material at all, and the price point, though a teensy bit expensive for things that are technically made out of garbage, is a step in the right direction prestige-wise.

Responsive

If you live somewhere smoggy (i.e., almost anywhere urban), you’ve probably seen air quality reports. They’re usually pretty nerve-wracking because A, you sort of have to breathe and B, it’s hard to avoid going outside. If you want to keep closer tabs on that kind of thing, Nien Lam and Susan Ngo invented as of yet aesthetically clunky t-shirts adorned with anatomically correct lungs or a heart that change color as carbon monoxide levels (pollution levels) rise.

In a more designerly realm, there’s Stijn Ossevoort and Diffus. Stijn’s Flare dress, adorned with flowers that light up as gusts of wind hit it, and Diffus’ gown has a cloud of bubbly lights that pulse faster and faster as air pollution (again measured via carbon monoxide levels) gets worse.

Faux Real

Maybe the most important shift in fashion has been less about dramatic aesthetics and more about a subtle, massive shift. Though the use of fake fur, leather and suede has been common in more affordable stores for a long time, designer brands have continued to use real leather and fur, as it’s generally more durable, softer and more expensive than the fake stuff.

With the growth of higher quality faux rabbit, fox and mink furs that have come about because of better polymer technology, there’s more flexibility for the more up-market brands to choose what sorts of fabrics they work with.

Most obviously signified by Stella McCartney’s vocal and contractual pledges not to use fur or leather in her designs, the entire high-fashion industry has re-evaluated itself a bit (Chanel and Ralph Lauren have used fake fur in their lines).

The shift can also be attributed to social media in a way: animal rights groups like PETA are active and effective users of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and have never been shy about calling out or pouring red paint on fur-wearers. Between the campaigns and celebrity endorsements, it’s quickly become less glamorous to wear a real mink, and it’s a mark of respectability on a certain level for a brand to use pleather and faux fur.

Lady Gaga tested the ire of the internet when she wore a seemingly real, giant fur coat to Bulgaria and was photographed in it. PETA and scores of other weekend activists took to Twitter and Facebook to harass Gaga, and her reply, “For those press and such who are writing about whether or not my fur is actually real, please don’t forget to credit the designer HERMES. Thank You! LOVE, gaga,” leads to a quick Google search that yields the information that the furs in the collection the coat was from (Hermès’ Autumn/Winter collection) were high-pile fake furs, so close to the real thing that even PETA couldn’t tell.

Serious Trompe L’Oeil

Prints have been a staple of fashion design forever, but it’s only recently that programs like Photoshop and Illustrator have given designers the tools to amp them up.

Mary Katrantzou is the most prominent of this new school of hyper-realistic prints, and she uses a computer for nearly every step of the design process. She develops her prints and her cuts at the same time, so that everything fits together seamlessly.

The result is some of the most original work ever to be seen at Fashion Week: Katrantzou’s first collection, dresses that followed the lines of antique perfume bottles, gave way to her breakout 2011 collection of dresses made to look like windows into luxurious houses, replete with complementary trims. And that brought her partnerships with TopShop and Longchamp in the space of three years.

Christopher Kane is another designer who is not afraid to use his computer as much as he uses his sketchbook. He was the one who started the whole galaxy print thing back in 2010.

Since then, he’s moved on to more abstract interpretations of future-focused clothing: bright neon lace, “ghost fabric” made of 70% aluminium organza that is so delicate it seems to float around the body, and plastic-encased heat sensitive fluid trims.

As undeniably genius as they both are, neither Katrantzou nor Kane as they are would be possible in a time before 2000.

From the MO print archive: this essay first ran in The Future Issue of Meets Obsession Magazine. The tech has moved on a lot since it ran, so read it as a time capsule of where fashion and technology looked to be heading.

• Words: Honor Vincent