Plasma dress and living neon: How physics revolutionized the runway in Paris
At Paris Fashion Week, Dutch designer Iris van Herpen demonstrated that haute couture can impress without computer graphics or video editing. Her new collection sounds like a manifesto of the union between science and beauty, where the laws of physics served as the primary set design. The audience witnessed outfits that literally radiated energy right on the models.
The highlight of the show was a dress with fabric that had been charged in a particle accelerator and cooled to cryogenic temperatures. During the show, the accumulated charge began to release spontaneously, and miniature lightning bolts ran across the surface of the material. These electrical plasma discharges didn't just glow; they physically changed the structure of the fabric before the audience's eyes.
Another hit was an unusual top made of glass tubes filled with gas. When the model put it on, her body completed an electrical circuit. With every movement and touch, the neon glow changed in intensity and flared up in a deep red color.
The designer drew inspiration for the patterns from science as well, replicating 19th-century experiments on converting sound into images. Sound vibrations, transferred to the fabric via laser cutting, turned into intricate embroidery that flowed seamlessly onto the models' bodies.
This show served as an important signal that future technologies are more than just smartphone screens. Clothing is already becoming "smart" today, capable of physically reacting to our bodies and the world around us, ushering in a completely new era in design.
ORIENT
