Lilach Porges’ DRESS_CODE collection pushes 3D a bit too far…
Then again, isn't that just what fashion is supposed to do?
New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology’s MFA in Fashion Design is a creative laboratory where technology, talent, and inspiration intersect in one of the world’s premier fashion capitals. The relentless pace of the fashion system can hinder innovation. FIT slows it down to make room for experimentation, reflection, and artistic growth. It also provides insight and education on urgent social issues impacting the fashion landscape. Students graduate with a thesis collection that is uniquely their own. As you can imagine, 3D printing is starting to play an increasingly relevant role in FIT’s students’ creativity. Looking at designer Lilach Porges’s DRESS_CODE offering, you may even think it’s too much. But that is exactly what she set out to do.
Lilach Porges’s minidresses are structural thanks to 3D printing, and she showed hints of skin through patchwork pieces. Other pieces are just completely solid to highlight some of the limitations of 3D printing. Porges is an Israeli fashion designer with an academic background in architecture. She uses parametric design methods to create textiles and garments. Her goal is to combine fashion with technology and to research more sustainable production methods to create the fashion of the future. Her work centers around developing innovative methods for 3D printed garments with robotic arms, exploring architectonic shapes with the ambition to bring the worlds of science, engineering, and fashion together to empower women.
Lilach Porge’s FIT collection is titled “DRESS_CODE” and focuses on the merger between technology and fashion. It combines looks that were 3D printed by a robotic arm through three methods: Random, Accurate, and Large-Scale with sustainable materials. Inspired by software engineering, the collection explores the aesthetics of the abilities and limitations of this technology. The thesis compares traditional methods, such as pattern making and fabric sewing, to 3D printing by hand and by a robot, where software becomes art and is translated into wearable objects.
The designer’s overall approach is identified by the term PROCODE_DRESS is redefining the fashion industry by 3D printing garments with robotic arms – automatically, quickly, and sustainably. Fashion consumers prefer sustainable clothes, which are still more expensive than the average market. PROCODE_DRESS developed a method for 3D printing garments with robotic arms that will reduce labor work and fabric waste in the fashion industry.
