3D Fashion on Display in Boston

The printed Molecule shoes will be part of the #techstyle exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Image courtesy Stratasys

If you're in Boston this spring or summer and are looking for some ideas to spruce up your wardrobe, check out the #techstyle exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which features a number of 3D printed fashion items created with Stratasys printers. The exhibition is co-curated by Lauren Whitley and Pam Parmal and runs through July 10.

The exhibition includes Anthozoa, a 3D printed cape and skirt designed by Prof. Neri Oxman and Iris van Herpen; the Harmonograph 3D printed dress designed by threeASFOUR and Travis Fitch; as well as Molecule shoes designed by Francis Bitonti.

The printed Anthozoa cape and skirt. Image courtesy Stratasys

“I think one of the most amazing aspects of 3D printing is that it enables the fashion designer to move beyond conventional sketching and draping methods and allows them to imagine and conceive a garment in three dimensions,” said Michelle Finamore, Penny Vinik Curator of Ashion Arts at MFA. “Many of the designers represented in #techstyle have harnessed Stratasys’ unique multi-material 3D printing technology, and the process is integral to the actual creation of the pieces. Francis Bitonti’s shoes, for example, seek to mimic organic cellular processes which cannot be controlled, yet he was able to 'grow' the shoes in a way that’s simply not possible with other forms of production.”

The Harmonograph dress was recently featured at New York Fashion Week, and follows the geometry of the Fibonacci sequence, optically portraying the effect of a harmonograph.

Anthozoa was featured at Paris Fashion Week in 2013 as part of Iris van Herpen's Haute Couture show.

“I think of the Neri Oxman and Iris van Herpen 3D printed dress as the catalyst for the exhibition,” continues Finamore. “The museum acquired the dress very soon after it came down the Paris runway, because it was not only a beautiful expression of van Herpen’s futuristic thinking, but it also integrated cutting-edge multi-material 3D printing and captured the exciting dynamism between fashion and technology we are currently experiencing.”

Source: Stratasys