The New Haute Couture: 3D Printed Dresses

With the invention of 3D printing, new fashion possibilities have become almost endless.

Although fashion designers have accessed 3D materials since 2010, it has only been recently since their range has been unlimited.

Designer Iris Van Herpen created this textured dress with the aid of a laser printing technique by a Belgian company called 'Materialise'.

Faith Robinson (also known as the content curator for global 3D showcase, ‘3D Printshow’) says: 

"3D printed pieces are restricted to the materials that a machine can print with, and with this in mind, designers are often visually restricted in terms of what can be made,"

In March 2014, Van Herpen worked with Materialise again, resulting in this gorgeous, cream piece.

Robinson continues "with the recent introduction of multi-material, multi-color printing (at a more accessible price point), trends within 3D-printed fashion are moving away from the rigid, white 3D-printed nylon structures and towards pieces that look more 'real.'"

The 3D printing company called 'Shapeways' and architect Francis Bitoni debuted this stunning dress, featuring flexible black mesh, almost 3000 articulated joints and over 12000 Swarovski crystals. This gown was modelled by Dita Von Teese

One of the Victoia's Secret angels- Lindsay Ellington, modeled a pair of Shapeways printed wings in 2013 

Designers such as the Austalian based XYZ Workshop are making their designs avaliable to download, meaning that anyone who has a 3D printer can both customise and create the clothing.

The 'InBloom dress' by XVZ Workshop. It is made of lace panels of PLA filament, 191 of them.

Accessories by XYZ  Workshop

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