Who? Issey Miyake, James Dyson, Marloes ten Bhömer, Shelley Fox and Ying Gao.
What? An exhibition exploring the increasingly prominent role machines are playing in redefining haute couture.
Why? The custom-fitted exclusivity of haute couture is traditionally created by the most experienced seamstresses using hand-executed techniques over a lengthy time period. Subverting this notion, this exhibition sheds light on new designer processes that let machines do the work: Issey Miyake’s creative director Dai Fujiwara and vacuum cleaner designer James Dyson team up to make customisable fabrics, Marloes ten Bhömer creates rapid prototype shoes and Shelley Fox uses MRI scans as fat-maps or blueprints to design a collection of dresses.
Where? Mechanical Couture: Fashioning a New Order runs 14 October – 8 January 2011 at Design Museum Holon, Israel.
Text by Lucia Davies
