August 14, 2012

Sportswear label Speedo has teamed up with sustainable fashion brand From Somwhere to create the “Unity” dress, a one-off ballgown made from the surplus fabric of Speedo’s Fastskin Super Elite Swimsuit.

The dress marks the latest collaboration between Speedo and From Somewhere - the two labels teamed up back in 2011 at London Fashion Week’s Esthetica to launch a collection of dresses created from off-cuts and surplus stock of Speedo swimsuits.

Speedo teamed up with From Somewhere in the development of this truly unique piece of ‘upcycled’ fashion using the different colours of the sponsored international swim teams that reflect the vibrancy and excitement of swimming.

Read more: http://www.vogue.co.uk/blogs/the-green-style-blog/2012/08/from-somewhere-and-speedo-collaboration

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Speedo From Somewhere Upcycling fashion 
July 9, 2012

Franck Sorbier, the Parisian designer, used just two designs and stunning visual effects to narrate a medieval French fairytale at his haute couture fall/winter 2012-2013 fashion show in Paris last week. Using only two dresses and hi-tech lighting and projections, he sought to retell a popular 17th century French literary fairytale, Donkeyskin by Charles Perrault.  

The collection is a technicolor wonder. Using the same pure white gown to showcase multiple designs, Sorbier has rigged a lighting device that changes the look of the gown at the flip of a button. The innovative show marks a new change in incorporating technology into fashion with this stunning high-tech gown.

Read more: http://www.rediff.com/getahead/slide-show/slide-show-1-glamour-franck-sorbier-fashion-show-in-paris/20120709.htm

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Filed under: Fashion and technology Innovative design Intelligent Design Franck Sorbier 
June 12, 2012

Hermès has developed a new inkjet technology that perfectly recreates the subtle gradations of intense colour into fabric. In collaboration with the Japanese artist Hiroshi Sugimoto, Hermès has translated 20 of the artist’s abstract colour studies into silk scarves in signed, limited editions of seven each.

Hiroshi Sugimoto has spent years chasing bands of prismatic colour around his studio in Tokyo and capturing them, with what was for him rapid-fire succession, using a Polaroid camera. “Couleurs de L’Ombre” (Colors of Shadow), as the collection is called, is a moving tribute to the lowly Polaroid, which faces imminent extinction.   

Where the original Polaroids are small and precious, the scarves are large — just over 55 inches square — and dynamic, playing with light in ways the artist had never anticipated. Though at around $10,000, you might think twice about actually wearing one. 

Watch video: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/hes-a-rainbow-hiroshi-sugimoto-for-hermes/

See the scarves: http://editeur-en.hermes.com/editions/h3-hiroshi-sugimoto/the-scarves.html

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Hermes Hermes Scarves Hiroshi Sugimoto Couleurs de L’Ombre 
June 4, 2012
Silk holds exciting potential to be one of the first fibres to be produced in vibrant colour. Scientists in Singapore are producing coloured silk by feeding dyes to silkworms. Currently inherently coloured fibres are limited to black, brown, orange and grey wools, and a small range of natural tones from speciality cotton breeds. Dyed silk promises to be an exciting development in the textile industry. Producing intrinsically coloured silk directly from silkworms gives hope for high quality, long lasting coloured silks, and promises to negate the need for wasteful processes associated with conventional dying.  Luminescent textiles have multiple applications in fashion and performance wear. Clothes could be brighter and last for longer. Bike riders could be seen at night, mountaineers find their tents and luxury labels make life difficult for would-be imitators. Read more: http://www.melbournereview.com.au/read/436/

Silk holds exciting potential to be one of the first fibres to be produced in vibrant colour. Scientists in Singapore are producing coloured silk by feeding dyes to silkworms. Currently inherently coloured fibres are limited to black, brown, orange and grey wools, and a small range of natural tones from speciality cotton breeds.

Dyed silk promises to be an exciting development in the textile industry. Producing intrinsically coloured silk directly from silkworms gives hope for high quality, long lasting coloured silks, and promises to negate the need for wasteful processes associated with conventional dying. 

Luminescent textiles have multiple applications in fashion and performance wear. Clothes could be brighter and last for longer. Bike riders could be seen at night, mountaineers find their tents and luxury labels make life difficult for would-be imitators.

Read more: http://www.melbournereview.com.au/read/436/

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Silk Dyes Fabric development New textiles 
May 30, 2012
Can a laundry detergent laced with sunscreen turn your clothes into protection from harmful ultraviolet rays? How about a shampoo that claims to do the same? As another hot summer looms, consumers are once again stocking up on products that promise scientifically formulated sun protection. Only now, amid a steady drumbeat of bad-news stories about global warming, manufacturers are upping the ante with whole new categories of chemically treated products that purport to block ultraviolet light. The products range from clothing and shoes to makeup and umbrellas. There are even sunscreen bikinis that pledge to shield those patches of skin that they actually cover. But consumers and dermatologists have their doubts.  Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/health/new-breed-of-products-said-to-offer-sun-protection-but-doubts-linger.html

Can a laundry detergent laced with sunscreen turn your clothes into protection from harmful ultraviolet rays? How about a shampoo that claims to do the same?

As another hot summer looms, consumers are once again stocking up on products that promise scientifically formulated sun protection. Only now, amid a steady drumbeat of bad-news stories about global warming, manufacturers are upping the ante with whole new categories of chemically treated products that purport to block ultraviolet light. The products range from clothing and shoes to makeup and umbrellas. There are even sunscreen bikinis that pledge to shield those patches of skin that they actually cover.

But consumers and dermatologists have their doubts. 

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/health/new-breed-of-products-said-to-offer-sun-protection-but-doubts-linger.html

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Filed under: Innovative products Sun protection UV protection Uniqlo UV-protected clothes intelligent design 
May 12, 2012

Luxury fashion can be deeply philosophical. Or at least it is according to the creative directors of Valentino, Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazia Chiuri. For their Spring/Summer 2012 collection, the design duo found their cultural spine in the finest flowering of French thought, keying in on the eighteenth century’s Age of Enlightenment and particularly the return to “real” values that Rousseau endorsed in his State of Nature philosophy.

“If you don’t think about fashion, you just do clothes” said Piccioli. “Fashion needs culture or it becomes empty. Couture is a real value, it’s not superficial.”

Read more: http://www.style.com/fashionshows/review/S2012CTR-VALENTIN

It is great to see that Piccioli and Chiuri have been able to honour Valentino Garavani’s legacy, while adding an intellectual dimension to the eponymous brand of the famed “maestro of Italian Couture”.

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Valentino Luxury fashion Fashion philosophy Couture Values in fashion 
April 30, 2012
“Feel like a woman, Wear a dress!”  Diane von Furstenberg first introduced the wrap dress in 1972 and forever changed the fashion world. A garment that can be worn in almost every situation, its versatility was embraced along with the flattering shape it provided. The allure of the wrap dress for any body shape and size is the way that the waist of the dress tucks in at the narrowest point, with the wrapping giving the illusion of a smaller waistline. The V-neckline that is created by the wrap elongates the body, making the wearer look taller. Most styles of this dress are made with a longer hemline, generally sitting right around the knee, giving the dress more femininity.  DVF believes that the wrap dress has made women feel more confident, which has in turn inspired her to build a successful fashion brand that is sold in over 56 countries.  Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-christine-miller/diane-von-furstenberg-on-_b_81590.html

“Feel like a woman, Wear a dress!” 

Diane von Furstenberg first introduced the wrap dress in 1972 and forever changed the fashion world. A garment that can be worn in almost every situation, its versatility was embraced along with the flattering shape it provided.

The allure of the wrap dress for any body shape and size is the way that the waist of the dress tucks in at the narrowest point, with the wrapping giving the illusion of a smaller waistline. The V-neckline that is created by the wrap elongates the body, making the wearer look taller. Most styles of this dress are made with a longer hemline, generally sitting right around the knee, giving the dress more femininity. 

DVF believes that the wrap dress has made women feel more confident, which has in turn inspired her to build a successful fashion brand that is sold in over 56 countries. 

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amanda-christine-miller/diane-von-furstenberg-on-_b_81590.html

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Filed under: Fashion that Fits Intelligent Design Diane Von Furstenberg Wrap Dresses Body Shape 
April 23, 2012

Neoprene is the latest intelligent fashion fabric embraced by some of the leading fashion designers. It offers designers a multitude of anti-gravitational possibilities - it is durable and hard-wearing, and creates the type of tailoring that can be thrown in a suitcase.

Neoprene is where technology meets tradition, enabling designers to create functional yet high-fashion, high performance pieces. It is conducive to the fast-paced daily life of a modern woman as “it’s stylish, but incredibly practical.”

Read more: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/9a1867fe-7f52-11e1-a06e-00144feab49a.html#axzz1supdvaRt

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Neoprene Dresses 
April 19, 2012
The Met Museum has unveiled a preview of its new Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada exhibition, opening next month, in which an imaginary dialogue between the two designers sees the latter explaining the importance of the humble apron. Miuccia Prada, arguably one of the most intellectual fashion designers of our time,  talks about how women and their daily lives inspire her uber creative work. “I’m interested in the lives of women in general, which is why I love aprons,” said Prada. “The apron is a recurring theme in my work because it is symbolic of women’s sufferance. It’s an emblem of women’s despair, their poverty, their passions. I love drama and romance. It’s one of the reasons why I love antique jewellery - I like to live the lives of other women”.  For both Schiaparelli and Prada, fashion is a way to reflect cultural and political ideas and to promote non conventional ideas of beauty and femininity.   And we love both of them for that!  

The Met Museum has unveiled a preview of its new Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada exhibition, opening next month, in which an imaginary dialogue between the two designers sees the latter explaining the importance of the humble apron.

Miuccia Prada, arguably one of the most intellectual fashion designers of our time,  talks about how women and their daily lives inspire her uber creative work.

“I’m interested in the lives of women in general, which is why I love aprons,” said Prada. “The apron is a recurring theme in my work because it is symbolic of women’s sufferance. It’s an emblem of women’s despair, their poverty, their passions. I love drama and romance. It’s one of the reasons why I love antique jewellery - I like to live the lives of other women”. 

For both Schiaparelli and Prada, fashion is a way to reflect cultural and political ideas and to promote non conventional ideas of beauty and femininity.  

And we love both of them for that!  

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Filed under: Intelligent Design Prada Schiaparelli The Met Museum 
April 17, 2012
We salute women in business. Especially the ones who use their intelligence to design products that make other women feel better about themselves. Here’s the story of Spanx and its founder! Definitely an example of intelligent design in fashion.  http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/03/07/undercover-billionaire-sara-blakely-joins-the-rich-list-thanks-to-spanx/

We salute women in business. Especially the ones who use their intelligence to design products that make other women feel better about themselves. Here’s the story of Spanx and its founder! Definitely an example of intelligent design in fashion. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/03/07/undercover-billionaire-sara-blakely-joins-the-rich-list-thanks-to-spanx/

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Filed under: Intelligent Design 
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