For the past few weeks I have been covering preparations for the Fairytale Fashion Show at Eyebeam on CRAFT and Make: Online. The Fairytale Fashion Collection uses technology to create magical clothing in real life. Electronics, mechanical engineering, and mathematics come together to create clothing that changes colors and transforms shapes. Research and development for the collection are shared in an educational resource online at FairytaleFashion.org.
Here’s the official Fairytale Fashion Show video:
The outfits in the show used four different technologies, electroluminescent (EL) wire with a custom built driver, deployable structures, Twinkle Pad, and inflation. Some of the outfits will be sold later this month at my site,DianaEng.com.
Here is a look at the collection and some behind the scenes shots of how the garments were made.
1. EL Wire Dress: Aqua silk chiffon organically draped dress edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed neck piece. All of the EL wire garments were inspired by the movement and look of sea creatures like the jellyfish.
2. Deployable Hoodie: Red wool silk hoodie with Miura Ori structure pleat pattern to help the hood collapse small and open big.
3. Twinkle Dress and Twinkle Cardigan: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Twinkle Cardigan’s removable black wool melton shoulder patches overlay a washable cotton sweater. Twinkle Dress’s removable gray silk chiffon twinkle pad circuit overlays washable black cotton dress. I have been working hardest to make Twinkle Dress available for purchase. I want it to be a sophisticated sparkling party dress.
4. Cameo EL Shirt: Peach silk organza edged with electroluminescent wire controlled by an accelerometer. Circuit boards are housed in a custom 3-D printed Cameo.
5. Twinkle Skirt and Deployable Scarf: LED circuits are hand embroidered with silverized thread and a custom sewable circuit board Twinkle Pad, developed specially for the Fairytale Fashion Collection. Wool felt deployable scarf is created with the Miura Ori pleat pattern.
6. Origami Jacket: Lavender cotton canvas jacket with origami pleated sleeves inspired by the Miura Ori pleat pattern.
7. Inflatable Dress: Inspired by time lapse videos of blooming flowers and emerging insect wings, I used inflation to create a growing transformation.
8. EL Wire Coat: White silk organza illuminated by EL wire patterns beneath which are controlled by an accelerometer.
9. Dream Dress:I wanted to create a finale for the show that captures a moment of fairytale like magic.
Photographs by Rick Louis and Doug Eng.
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