5 Fashion Couture Dresses Fused With Technology That Compliment Kawakubo’s Revolutionary Outlook

Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons is set to be the belle of the ball at this evenings MET Gala. 

According to Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garçons is one of the most important and influential designers of the past 40 years. Arousing curiosity within the fashion world, Kawakubo’s fascination with interstitiality has made her unafraid to challenge conventional notions of beauty, good taste, and, ultimately, fashionability. “Kawakubo thinks differently about clothing,” said Thomas P. Campbell, Director and CEO of The Met, “she challenges our ideas about fashion’s role in contemporary culture.”

 Met Costume Institute Benefit 2017
REI KAWAKUBO OF COMME DES GARCONS IS THE 2017 THEME OF MET GALA

This year’s Met Costume Institute Benefit will be co-chaired by Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour. Rei Kawakubo will serve as Honorary Chair. On her work Kawakubo shared, “I have always pursued a new way of thinking about design…by denying established values, conventions, and what is generally accepted as the norm. And the modes of expression that have always been most important to me are fusion…imbalance… unfinished… elimination…and absence of intent.”

ALSO READ: MET Gala’s Unrecognised Opportunities & What Should Have Been

I think that Kawakubo’s revolutionary outlook on fashion is a great opportunity for those hitting the red carpet to wear out of this world dresses. I am talking about game changing gowns that challenge the red carpet norm. So if they are not wearing Kawakubo, then fashion couture fused with technology will add some much needed innovation to the red carpet. We recommend:

(1) Jean Louis’ Marlene Dietrich Glowing Naked Dress

Based on sketches of Jean Louis and Dietrich’s descriptions, the dress was designed by ElektroCouture’s designer-in-residence Anja Dragan. It features 3-D-printed flower embroidery and glowing crystals with LEDs made in collaboration with Swarovski.

(2) Flavia Rose & Ash King Dress 1,000 Hand-cut Paper Petals Dress

Ester is a handcrafted, wearable, technological garment. The dress is timeless and feminine, featuring a cinched waist, accentuated bust and a full-circle skirt with a petal-like hem. The skirt is sculpted from cane, creating a light but durable skeleton. Covering this and the bodice are 1000 hand-cut paper petals.

Integrated into the edges of the garment are hundreds of addressable NeoPixel LEDs. These lights diffuse underneath the paper dress, allowing the garment to bloom, transforming it into a wearable light show. Ester is designed to be striking in light and darkness.

(3) CuteCircuit’s First Ever Graphene Dress

Created using a graphene composite that conducts electricity, the dress is lined with graphene-enhanced sensors, inbuilt LED lights, that are spread out throughout the garment’s top half of the dress. Designed to react to the heartbeat of the wearer, the dress was created using only small amounts of the rather expensive graphene.

(4) Iris van Herpen SS17 Dress

Iris van Herpen’s singular vision combined with the complexity of her creations has made van Herpen a fixture on the Paris Haute Couture calendar, where she has shown since January 2011. Her latest collection, IvH ‘Between the Lines’, brags dresses handmade from a fine black silk tulle that is shaped with thousands of soft 3D hand-casted PU shapes, resembling a broken glass pattern

(5) eTextile Crystallography Dress

A collaboration between Rachel Freire and Melissa Coleman, the dress explores the idea of growing a luxurious futuristic garment and the aesthetics and practicalities involved. Red carpet dresses and gowns are created at huge expense and often worn only once as they are so unique and recognisable. Rather than make a single use, incredibly expensive crystal gown with synthesized crystals, the duo proposed the idea that we create a gown which can be grown and re-grown in different forms to be worn on multiple occasions. The eTextile electronics in the garment are washable and will stay the same. But each time the dress is worn it’s crystals can be re-grown and each resulting gown is completely unique.
Share Your Tips & Corrections