Every technological change that profoundly affects the human process will quickly trigger a romantic response from the fashion designer community, turning the thinking and application of technology into an organic ingredient that flows in fashion.
From the 20th century to the present, there have been three large-scale waves of technological futurism in the fashion industry: the "space age" of the 1960s, the early rise of the Internet at the turn of the millennium, and the current era of virtual and reality intertwined with technologies such as mobile Internet, smart phones, artificial intelligence, and metacosm.
Under the tide, the pearls condensed by the essence of the times are sprinkled with color.
The arms race and space race in the early days of the Cold War made people at that time uneasy in the frenzy. Rockets, spaceships, satellites, nuclear fusion, space capsules, moon landings, interstellar voyages... In that era of grandeur and fantasy, three representative SPACE LOOK designers were born: André Courrèges, Paco Rabanne and Pierre Cardin.
André Courrèges was the first designer to release "Space Fashion", in 1961, he left Balenciaga as the first assistant to create his own brand, and in 1964 launched the first Space Age (Space Age) series, modeling like aliens, sensational French fashion circle. In 1965, he released the "MoonGirlLook" Moon Girl look, minimalist black and white and neat close-fitting lines, directly driving white and silver to become the dominant colors of the season.
André Courrèges was heavily influenced by modernism and futurism and drew nourishment from modern architecture and new materials. Audrey Hepburn's signature design of Courrèges in the film "Stealing the Dragon and Turning the Phoenix" features a minimalist bell hat and space-inspired sunglasses paired with a sleek coat that is still unforgettable.
Born in Spain, Paco Rabanne studied architecture in France in his early years, entered the fashion industry after World War II by making ornaments for Balenciaga, Givenchy and Dior, and the first collection was released in 1966 and has been called "12 dresses made of contemporary materials that are not suitable for wearing".
He was passionate about making clothes out of plastic and metal, and models often had their skin scratched by metal, and Coco Chanel called him a "blacksmith." His customers at the time included Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, and others. He also designed costumes for films such as Barbarella.
Pierre Cardin is the most influential space fashion designer. After the end of World War II, he traveled from Italy to France alone, entered Dior as a tailor, became the biggest contributor behind NEW LOOK, and left Dior in 1950 to create his own brand and quickly rose. With the advent of the space age, he found his true favorite style, the futuristic space wind.
The 1960s coincided with the development of fabric technology, and many novel synthetic fabrics replaced delicate haute couture fabrics, allowing Pierre Cardin to apply to his own design, and also laid the groundwork for the future development of affordable ready-to-wear lines and the expulsion from the Paris Haute Couture Guild. The space fashion he designed, rich and bright colors, minimalist, three-dimensional, kaleidoscopic geometric silhouettes, with glass, plastic, resin and other materials, affordable and easy to take care of, completely hit the young people who pursued novelty at that time.
Time into the end of the 20th century, computer popularization, Internet globalization, "The Matrix" swept the world, the entire fashion industry for the upcoming new millennium into a fever-inducing carnival, the future elements of science and technology are frequently used by many brands, designers to express the unknown 21st century vision and trepidation.
During this period, several major elements of science and technology: transparent material, PVC, fluorescent color, laser fabric, luminous electron tube, bright patent leather, metallic fabric, all emerged. For example, Mugler's SS1995, Gianni Versace's SS1995, Issey Miyake's SS1996, and Chanel's SS1997 all show their imagination of this new era of the Internet.
On the runway, new technological means such as robots and holographic projections have also begun to appear, heralding a 21st century in which high-tech tools are everywhere.
During this period, Alexander McQueen was a tech maniac among designers. In his Givenchy SS1999 collection, he combines fluorescent computer integrated circuit drawings with fashion to create a visual spectacle.
In his 1999 solo series, he used two robotic arms to mercilessly spray colored paint on the model standing on the rotating disc, creating a unique work of art on the spot, giving a strong artistic atmosphere to the cold futuristic technological machinery.
At this time, Dior created a kind of millennial girl image of crazy play, participating in the electric music sharp dance party, unscrupulous, immersed in the subculture of the colorful neon streets of the new century city.
This colorful, grotesque, happy and slightly melancholy sense of futuristic technology constitutes the fashion atmosphere that the turn of the millennium has had a profound impact on future generations.
After truly entering the 21st century, fashion has not become as cool and exaggerated as in science fiction movies, but has shown a tendency to compromise and move in the direction of practicality. In this period, although there have been new developments in science and technology, they are wrapped up in an increasingly ordinary sense of everyday life.
In terms of fashion, 3D printing technology was once a big hit, and in this field, only designer Iris van Herpen made works that satisfies the "futuristic" imagination, which is always difficult to promote. Some of the so-called somatic discoloration and electronic device interaction fashion also stay in the concept, can not form a climate.
After the rise of the metaverse concept, there have been many glittering "virtual fashions", which have been "P" by fashion bloggers, but they are limited to internet entertainment.
In general, the pursuit of "scientific and technological sense" in the appearance of human beings in the 21st century is much calmer. During this period, the combination of technology and fashion is more reflected in the integration of high-tech into the fabric to achieve a higher function and more comfortable human body wearing, or reflected in the recycled fabric of the environmental protection and sustainable cycle.
For example, at SS22 China International Fashion Week, in the research and development and use of scientific and technological fabrics and processes, we saw a variety of cross-border designs that are closer to life and technology:
And this "sense of technology" fashion may be closer to the original intention of scientists: to create a new technology that can really improve the lives of ordinary people, rather than just staying on the flashy surface.
This is the real "technology makes life better".