From engineering nano-tech fabrics in scientific labs to whipping up couture in the kitchen, designers are continuously experimenting with new materials to fashion future garments. The microscope and the petri dish have replaced the antiquated loom. Textiles are no longer woven: Instead they are grown, whipped up, or engineered.
Bio-tech couture may be the fetish of the moment, stamping fashion with a manufactured feeling of “sustainability” or “ecology.”
Ninela Ivanova, an MA Fashion student at Kingston University, is the latest designer to experiment with nature and biology, specifically with molds and fungi. Yes, mold too can be beautiful.
“Moulded Minds” focuses on the story of the “human-mould-fashion relationship,” people’s perceptions on beauty and decay. Her petri dish experiments inspired garments that resembled decorative molted human skin.
“Mould is extraordinary,” Ninela, 24, said; “It thrives when nothing else can grow. It prospered in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster – it even grows on the outside of spaceships.”
The mold patterns were translated to chiffons and silks that were dipped in silicone. Three of her garments included actual mold sealed in PVC shoulder pads.
You can learn more about her research here. Watch the lovely interview with Ninela below and the MA Fashion Show (2011) at Kingston University.
