Enhancing the employability of fashion students through the use of 3D CAD

The textile and apparel industry has one of the longest and most intricate supply chains within manufacturing. Advancement in technology has facilitated its globalisation, enabling companies to span geographical borders. This has led to new methods of communication using electronic data formats. Throughout the latter part of the 20th Century, 2D CAD technology established itself as an invaluable tool within design and product development. More recently 3D virtual simulation software has made small but significant steps within this market. The technological revolution has opened significant opportunities for those forward thinking companies that are beginning to utilise 3D software. This advanced technology requires designers with unique skill sets. This paper investigates the skills required by fashion graduates from an industry perspective. To reflect current industrial working practices, it is essential for educational establishments to incorporate technologies that will enhance the employability of graduates. This study developed an adapted action research model based on the work of Kurt Lewin, which reviewed the learning and teaching of 3D CAD within higher education. It encompassed the selection of 3D CAD software development, analysis of industry requirements, and the implementation of 3D CAD into the learning and teaching of a selection of fashion students over a three year period. Six interviews were undertaken with industrial design and product development specialists to determine: current working practices, opinions of virtual 3D software and graduate skill requirements. It was found that the companies had similar working practices independent of the software utilised within their product development process. The companies which employed 3D CAD software considered further developments were required before the technology could be fully integrated. Further to this it was concluded that it was beneficial for graduates to be furnished with knowledge of emerging technologies which reflect industry and enhance their employability skills

Wearable performance

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2009 Taylor & FrancisWearable computing devices worn on the body provide the potential for digital interaction in the world. A new stage of computing technology at the beginning of the 21st Century links the personal and the pervasive through mobile wearables. The convergence between the miniaturisation of microchips (nanotechnology), intelligent textile or interfacial materials production, advances in biotechnology and the growth of wireless, ubiquitous computing emphasises not only mobility but integration into clothing or the human body. In artistic contexts one expects such integrated wearable devices to have the two-way function of interface instruments (e.g. sensor data acquisition and exchange) worn for particular purposes, either for communication with the environment or various aesthetic and compositional expressions. 'Wearable performance' briefly surveys the context for wearables in the performance arts and distinguishes display and performative/interfacial garments. It then focuses on the authors' experiments with 'design in motion' and digital performance, examining prototyping at the DAP-Lab which involves transdisciplinary convergences between fashion and dance, interactive system architecture, electronic textiles, wearable technologies and digital animation. The concept of an 'evolving' garment design that is materialised (mobilised) in live performance between partners originates from DAP Lab's work with telepresence and distributed media addressing the 'connective tissues' and 'wearabilities' of projected bodies through a study of shared embodiment and perception/proprioception in the wearer (tactile sensory processing). Such notions of wearability are applied both to the immediate sensory processing on the performer's body and to the processing of the responsive, animate environment. Wearable computing devices worn on the body provide the potential for digital interaction in the world. A new stage of computing technology at the beginning of the 21st Century links the personal and the pervasive through mobile wearables. The convergence between the miniaturisation of microchips (nanotechnology), intelligent textile or interfacial materials production, advances in biotechnology and the growth of wireless, ubiquitous computing emphasises not only mobility but integration into clothing or the human body. In artistic contexts one expects such integrated wearable devices to have the two-way function of interface instruments (e.g. sensor data acquisition and exchange) worn for particular purposes, either for communication with the environment or various aesthetic and compositional expressions. 'Wearable performance' briefly surveys the context for wearables in the performance arts and distinguishes display and performative/interfacial garments. It then focuses on the authors' experiments with 'design in motion' and digital performance, examining prototyping at the DAP-Lab which involves transdisciplinary convergences between fashion and dance, interactive system architecture, electronic textiles, wearable technologies and digital animation. The concept of an 'evolving' garment design that is materialised (mobilised) in live performance between partners originates from DAP Lab's work with telepresence and distributed media addressing the 'connective tissues' and 'wearabilities' of projected bodies through a study of shared embodiment and perception/proprioception in the wearer (tactile sensory processing). Such notions of wearability are applied both to the immediate sensory processing on the performer's body and to the processing of the responsive, animate environment

Block party: contemporary craft inspired by the art of the tailor

Block Party: contemporary craft inspired by the art of the tailor, is a new touring exhibition from the Crafts Council curated by Lucy Orta - Professor of Art, Fashion and the Environment at London College of Fashion, and renowned visual artist whose own practice fuses fashion, art and architecture. Block Party explores the alchemy of the centuries-old skill of tailoring by presenting work by 15 UK and international artists who push pattern-cutting beyond the fashion garment. The artists Lucy Orta has selected take pattern-cutting as a starting point to produce sculpture, ceramics, textile, moving image and collage. Through experimentation the artists have found new ways to assemble pattern shapes, not to create garments but to manipulate shape to realise new outcomes. Block Party focuses on three themes; Storytelling, Embracing the Future, and Motif and Manipulation. In Storytelling artists use pattern-cutting as a means of expression. Turner Prize-nominated Yinka Shonibare MBE presents a child mannequin, dressed in a historically accurate Victorian outfit crafted from African fabric to reference culture, race and history. Claudia Losi’s 24m whale made of woollen suit fabric was transported around the world to stimulate discussion and storytelling before being deconstructed and transformed into jackets in collaboration with fashion designer Antonio Marras. In Embracing the Future existing pattern-cutting methods are manipulated and challenged through the use of innovative processes and technologies. Simon Thorogood’s patterns are created using digital programmes whilst Philip Delamore of the Fashion Digital Studio at London College of Fashion seeks to apply the latest developments in 3D digital design to the garment making process. In Motif and Manipulation the beauty of the paper pattern block is the visual inspiration. Ceramist Charlotte Hodes directly incorporates these familiar shapes into her ceramics whilst Raw Edges re-appropriate the use of a pattern block by creating a flat paper pattern of a chair which is then filled with expandable foam to create the 3D ‘Tailored Wood Bench’

Moveable worlds/digital scenographies

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ Intellect Ltd 2010.The mixed reality choreographic installation UKIYO explored in this article reflects an interest in scenographic practices that connect physical space to virtual worlds and explore how performers can move between material and immaterial spaces. The spatial design for UKIYO is inspired by Japanese hanamichi and western fashion runways, emphasizing the research production company's commitment to various creative crossovers between movement languages, innovative wearable design for interactive performance, acoustic and electronic sound processing and digital image objects that have a plastic as well as an immaterial/virtual dimension. The work integrates various forms of making art in order to visualize things that are not in themselves visual, or which connect visual and kinaesthetic/tactile/auditory experiences. The ‘Moveable Worlds’ in this essay are also reflections of the narrative spaces, subtexts and auditory relationships in the mutating matrix of an installation-space inviting the audience to move around and follow its sensorial experiences, drawn near to the bodies of the dancers.Brunel University, the British Council, and the Japan Foundation

Reprogramming the hand: bridging the craft skills gap in 3D/digital fashion knitwear design

Designer-makers have integrated a wide range of digital media and tools into their practices, many taking ownership of a specific technology or application and learning how to use it for themselves, often drawing on their experiential knowledge of established practices to do so. To date, there has been little discussion on how digital knitting practice has evolved within this context, possibly due to the complexity of the software, limited access to industrial machinery and the fact that it seems divorced from the idea of 'craft'. Despite the machine manufacturers' efforts to make knitting technology and software more user-friendly, the digital interface remains a significant barrier to knitwear designer-makers, generally only accessed via experienced technicians

Historic Costume Simulation and its Application

This study highlights the potential of new technology as a means to provide new possibility for costumes in fragile condition to be utilised. The aim of this study is to create accurate digital duplicates of costumes from historical sources, and to explore the possibility of developing them as an exhibitory and educational method applying 3D apparel CAD and new media. To achieve this, three attributes for qualities of effective digital costumes were suggested: faithful reproduction, virtual fabrication, and interactive and stereographic appreciation. Based on these qualities, digital costumes and a PC application were produced and evaluated

Project Globule: creation of an eco-responsidle clothing brand

This thesis project is based on the analysis and reflection on the creation of an ecological clothing brand. In addition to the theoretical framework on the ecological impact of the textile industry on our planet, as well as the impact of the massive consumption caused by fast-fashion is highlighted. Moreover, the impact of the arrival of second-hand market is shown and detailed. As so, a survey was carried out in order to understand and show the consumption of buyers in the field of clothing. This survey makes it possible to understand if consumers are aware or not, of the information on over-consumption of clothing and its ecological impact on the planet. The starting point of this project is to begin with the creation of a responsible clothing brand. Therefore, in order to obtain an ecological clothing brand and at the same time a brand offering design products, the creative stages will be essential to its good development

Fashion\u27s Function in Intellectual Property Law

Clothing designs can be beautiful. But they are also functional. Fashion’s dual nature sits uneasily in intellectual property law, and its treatment by copyright, trademark, and design patent laws has often been perplexing. Much of this difficulty arises from an unclear understanding of the nature of functionality in fashion design. This Article proposes a robust account of fashion’s function. It argues that aspects of garment designs are functional not only when they affect the physical or technological performance of a garment but also when they affect the perception of the wearer’s body. Generally, clothes are not designed or chosen simply to look good. They are also characteristically designed or chosen to look good on. This approach clarifies the appropriate treatment of fashion design in intellectual property, and it exposes the conceptual limitations of the Supreme Court’s recent copyright decision in Star Athletica, L.L.C. v. Varsity Brands, Inc