Fashion & Technology

Technology is becoming increasingly important in every design field – think of Marcel Wanders’s Knotted Chair and Joris Laarman’s Bone Chair. Technical advancements enable design innovations. In fashion, though, high tech mainly appears in two extreme forms – LED-covered dresses crafted by statement-making artists on the one hand and hair-fine synthetic fibres on the other. Fashion has everything to do with technique, craft and skill. So why does it so seldom concern itself with the new options offered by technology?

Advancements in fashion and technology
At the symposium, we went over the results of recent research into high-tech applications in fashion. We also looked at the educational system’s role in the use of technology in clothing and students’ position in the design process. Gerrit Uittenbogaard and Simone de Waart stressed the importance of academies in encouraging young designers to use innovative processes. Professor Paul Kiekens pointed out that fashion students often know little about the properties of the fibres they use. Ger Brinks, a lecturer in smart functional materials, advocated the use of nanotechnology and described new techniques.

Design competition
Marit Kleijnjan won first place in an accompanying competition for alumni of The Hague’s Royal Academy of Art, in which Premsela and Gerrit Uittenbogaard challenged participants to solve a design problem. Our motive was to encourage them to look at fashion and technology in an innovative way. Kleijnjan won for her investigation of scent in fashion. She will receive guidance in developing her idea further. Premsela will advise her and solicit help from industry experts.

Other participants were Annemarije van Harten, IJanneke Lemmers, Lidewij Corstiaans, Patti Fonseca, Amber Anthe Scholten, Layla Kuhnen, Marit Kleijnjan, Tessa Wagenvoort and Sarena Huizinga. Their entries were on view at the STRP festival.