These days, speaking of new techniques equals new possibilities. Not only has the consumption of fashion radically changed with the use of social media, but the very design itself has significantly evolved with digital techniques. One example of the ever-growing fashion evolution is that of Danit Peleg, a fashion design student who based her graduate collection completely on 3D-printing. She has experimented with materials and received a result that is similar to usual fabrics – a discovery that opened doors to creating pieces completely made of 3D-printed fabrics. The aim of her collection was to create garments that are printable on your own 3D-printer, in your own home – an approach that is bound to shift the relationship between production, distribution and consumption of fashion in the (near) future. The project and the technique might not be completely there yet, owning a 3D printer is still not common and it takes a lot of hours to produce a shoe or a dress, but just in a few years printing will be common and ordinary – both as a new way of creating fabrics as well as a production process as a whole.
It is interesting to note how the inspiration behind Peleg’s collection, despite its technological core, resides in craftsmanship of past centuries. In fact, her work draws references from Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. Could it be that she wanted to express the liberation behind being able to create one’s own clothes, mastering the craft of production in the 21st century? While many might say that digital techniques represent a threat to the traditional design knowledge and techniques that have built the industry for the last 200 years, perhaps it would be better to consider it as a complement to the traditional design process and as a possibility for new and established designers to continue pushing the limits.
