3D printers have been used to make some cool stuff like guns and medical prosthetics and toys, but now the “first” 3D-printed dress has been revealed at a runway event and jewelry bazaar at Manhattan’s Ace Hotel this week. Mashable and WIRED called this a first, but we did some fact checking, and they seem to be wrong. Dutch designer Iris van Herpen showcased 3D-printed dresses at Paris Fashion Week in January and last year. Nonetheless, this is totally rad.
The dress was designed to perfectly fit and move with Dita Von Teese (pictured). The 3D-printed dress was made from 2,633 hollow, interlocking pieces of hardened powdered nylon which were lacquered black and covered with 13,000 black Swarovski crystals. The one-of-a-kind piece weighs only 11.5 pounds.
This 3D-printed dress was inspired by the Fibonacci sequence and designed by Michael Schmidt (who designed Lady Gaga’s bubble dress) and architect Francis Bitonti (who often works with new and unusual materials). Their pattern was made real with an EOS P350 printer at Shapeways in Queens, New York.
The dress will go on tour and be displayed first at Swarovski and then in museums, but as Schmidt said, “no other woman but Dita will ever wear this dress.” With that, Dita leaned back in her chair, drink in hand and said, “I’d like to see ’em try.” [Mashable]
There are more pictures of the dress below. As far as high-tech fashion goes, this still looks far more normal to us than the spray-on clothing and the shirts made from bacteria.
[Sources: Mashable, WIRED, Geekologie]