Tag Archives: fashion

Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Features 3D Printed Lingerie

3D Printed Dress Victoria's Secret

3D printing took center stage at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show last month. Victoria’s Secret turned to architect Bradley Rothenberg to design the wings for supermodel Lindsay Ellingson to wear on the catwalk.

In an interview with Shapeways, Rothenberg explained his inspiration:

My first thought was to come up with a system for generating fractal snowflakes. We used processing as a tool to sketch different organizations of snowflakes & how different fractal organizations allow a shift from small textile-like snowflakes to larger structural snowflakes.   We needed to come up with our own underlying system for making 3D snowflakes.

Bradley Rothenberg Victoria's Secret 3D Printing

Rothenberg thinks 3D printing can be a game-changer in fashion in general.

“I think that 3D printing has a big possibility to change the industry as a whole,” he said. “Specifically what we want to do is make wearable 3D-printed stuff available to fashion designers,” Rothenberg told TechCrunch.

Here is supermodel Lindsay Ellingson wearing the 3D Printed creation.

Lindsay Ellingson Swarovski 3D Printed Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

You can see more of Bradley Rothenberg’s work on his website.

Top 3D Printing News Last Week: 3D Printing Conference, Ellen Page, Much More

3D printing news

3D Printing News

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from July 8 to July 14:

Monday, July 8

Tuesday, July 9

Wednesday, July 10

Thursday, July 11

Friday, July 12

 Saturday, July 13

Inside 3D Printing Conference Chicago: Day 2 Top Stories

Avi Reichental Keynote Inside 3D Printing Chicago

Inside 3D Printing Chicago: Day 2

Day 2 of the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago continued to delight audiences with compelling talks and great networking. Below are the top stories from the day.

3D Systems CEO Predicts Moore’s Law Will Hit 3D Printing Technology – Inside 3D Printing Chicago

Avi Reichental, CEO of 3D Systems, keynoted Day 2 at Inside 3D Printing Chicago with a talk entitled Manufacturing the Future.

Simulation-Based Design for 3D Printing: Special Effects and the Store of the Future

Artist and designer Isaac Katz of Electronic Art Boutique gives an overview of the powerful 3D modeling software programs available on the market today.

3D Printed Fashion: From Fantasy Gowns to Accessible Couture – Inside 3D Printing Chicago

3D printed fashion designers Michael Schmidt and Francis Bitonti speak at the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago.

 

Read our recap from Day 1.

Follow us on Twitter @on3dprinting for more updates.

3D Printed Fashion: From Fantasy Gowns to Accessible Couture – Inside 3D Printing Chicago

3D Printed Fashion Dita Von Teese

3D Printed Fashion Stuns in Chicago

As part of our coverage of this week’s Inside 3D Printing Conference in Chicago, On 3D Printing brings you an industry perspective on the latest developments in 3D printing for fashion and retail.  In addition to providing an in depth review of their successful collaboration with Shapeways in creating the first fully-articulated 3D printed gown, designers Michael Schmidt and Francis Bitonti encouraged the 3D printing industry to continue its pursuit of applications in the fashion industry.

Schmidt and Bitonti’s articulated gown was custom designed and famously worn by burlesque star and style icon Dita Von Teese, and unveiled this past March during a showcase event at the Ace Hotel in New York City.  Describing the dress as a “flight of fantasy” inspired by Fibonacci’s golden ratio, Schmidt welcomed the opportunity to work with 3D printing technology.

Schmidt and Bitonti emphasized printing process and material selection as critical to their success. Having ruled out a range of the available 3D printing technologies as incompatible with their design ends, they moved forward with laser sintering, which they felt would provide the necessary flexibility.  While it took several months to develop the concept and code for the dress, the printing process itself took only four days.  Because the dress applied the Fibonacci’s sequence throughout the design to create a truly custom fit to Ms. Von Teese, no two parts of the dress are alike.

All told, the dress is made of 3,000 printed nylon joints, which were printed in 17 sections using a selective laser sintering process, whereby layers of nylon powder are selectively fused together by a laser.  While most custom gowns require at least several rounds of fitting to ensure a perfect fit, Schmidt and Bitonti were pleased to discover that “the dress fit really well right out of the box.”

Illustrating the importance of post-processing and hand finishing, Schmidt and Bitonti indicated that the printed pieces were expertly extracted at Shapeways to remove the nylon powder residue from within each joint in the dress.  After the sections were printed and shipped to Schmidt’s studio, they were rip dyed, joined together by a hinged mechanism (also 3D printed) and hand encrusted with over 25,000 Swarovski crystals.

While Schmidt and Bitonti’s articulable dress stands as a testament to what’s possible, the designers also addressed the limitations of current technology.  ”We are limited at the moment to these fantastical garments.  We aren’t able to print in materials that have the qualities of a successful garment until we develop these materials to meet the needs of the body itself – that’s the holy grail,” Schmidt said.

One of the biggest issues in Schmidt and Bitonti’s view is the need to build fluidity of movement into the printing process itself, as the current selective laser sintering process renders the nylon powder stiff.  They also noted that current technology does not provide the option to print in organic materials like cotton or silk.  Both designers are hopeful for the future of the technology, however, and are currently developing a line of jewelry.

Below is a video of the 3D printed dress being displayed at the Inside 3D Printing conference in Chicago.

 

Authored by On 3D Printing contributor Lisa M. Pérez, co-founder of Heart Design Inc.

 

Top 10 Countdown: Most Popular 3D Printing Stories in April 2013

Inside 3D Printing Conference Entry

Here are the top 10 most popular stories On 3D Printing brought you in April 2013.

10. Topology Optimization in Additive Manufacturing: 3D Printing Conference (Part 5)

9. The Crowd Loves 3D Printing! Kickstarter 3D Printing Summary

8. 3D Printed Phone Cases: UCreate3D Seeks Crowdfunding to Best Nokia

7. 3D Printing’s Apple 1 Moment: 3D Printing Conference (Part 1)

6. 3D Printed Fashion Show at London College of Fashion This Week

5. Sold Out: Play-Doh Kids 3D Printer and iPad App

4. Medical 3D Printing Breakthrough: Man Gets a New 3D Printed Face

3. mUVe 3D Printer Meets Funding Goal on Indiegogo

2. Inside 3D Printing Conference: Day 1 Top Stories

1. Practical 3D Printing: 10 Things to Make With a 3D Printer

 

Thanks for reading in April!