Mar 6, 2018 | By Tess
Balenciaga is the latest fashion house to turn to high-tech processes for its haute couture garments. The brand’s designer Demna Gvasalia used 3D printing to create a series of exaggerated contour jackets for Balenciaga’s Autumn/Winter 2018 collection.
While Gucci recently sent its models down the runway carrying 3D printed heads and Dolce & Gabbana replaced its handbag models with drones, Balenciaga has used 3D technologies in a more “traditional” way to create a line of colorful, double-breasted coats.
As designer Gvasalia recently explained to Vogue, the coats—notable for their broad shoulders, narrow waists, and wide hips—were realized with the help of 3D scanning and 3D printing.
To achieve the dramatic silhouette of the jackets, the designer 3D scanned the bodies of the models who were to wear the coats and digitally adjusted and altered the body shapes in a CAD program. These altered shapes were then 3D printed, molded, and cast with a lightweight foam.
As Gvasalia told Vogue, “For the first time, I did digital fittings on a laptop. We 3D scanned bodies and then we altered the shapes in files, 3D printed them, and actually made molds. The tailoring part that you see is all printed. There are only two seams on the side and the arm hole. There are no darts, there is no construction, and it's only one layer of fabric.”
In other words, rather than bunch up fabric or use sewing techniques to create the exaggerated hips of the coat, the designer and his team simply had to drape the fabrics they were using over the foam pieces on the mannequin and sew them up.
It’s always amazing to see the variety of ways in which 3D technologies can be used to create high fashion pieces, and it seems like the trend will only continue to grow.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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