Our world is rapidly changing and is taking on a more and more digital shape. Emerging digital technologies inform and inspire a new generation of fashion designers to move beyond the material dimension of fashion. In an interactive exhibition at the Playground (Friday December 2 from 10.00 - 20.00 hrs), WdKA’s third year Fashion Design students showcase their breath-taking virtual worlds and digital craftsmanship.
Prototyping digital garments, surreal avatars and speculative landscapes, the students explore the possibilities of virtual designing. Guided by the technical knowledge and skills available at the WdKA Stations, the students apply, test and stretch these new possibilities within their personal vision. It allows them to re-imagine our gendered bodies, to explore the boundaries of our human species and to expand our understanding of identity. Immerse yourself in their personal and intimate propositions of what virtual fashion has to offer.
Check out the work by our third year students below.
Featured image: Michał Zgierski
Eva Borro
Uniaisia Dreamhouse is an immersive VR experience created by Eva Borro to bring the chaotic internal world of dreams to waking life. It presents an uncanny combination of memories from the designer's dreams and random data collected from AI generators, which to her resemble the digital version of a dreaming human brain. The clothing collection exemplifies how tuning into one’s dreams can act as an unexpected source of inspiration.
Maurice van Schendel
In Democracy Dies in Darkness, Maurice van Schendel comments on the widespread erosion of democracy. Maurice uses the traditional format of the press conference to serve as context for a digital visualization of how power corrupts. As time progresses an official press conference spirals into madness, visualizing a descent into tyranny: an event that is rarely televised.
Beyza Demirci
Beyza Demirci creates an alternate reality in a cinematic animation by blurring the lines between 2D, 3D, augmented reality and virtual reality. Her designs are inspired by family pictures that resemble togetherness and embracement. By observing the silhouette of the human bodies she translates them into new shapes.
Philip Malmgren
The project Fet(a)ish explores the future intimacy between humans and ‘robots’. Will we be able to tell what is human? Philip Malmgren invites you to a VR simulation that brings you to a plausible future.
Christy Millarson
The work of Christy Millarson visualises the moment life hits you and you experience a metaphorical “blow-out tire”, leaving you stranded on the side of the road. It conveys both the hopelessness of the situation as well as the realization that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. This work offers a cinematic catwalk animation that allows you to experience that process.
Justin Nelissen a.k.a. Dromerke
Dromerke presents a visual storytelling in digital fabric: Sickoanalysis, a project exploring the motivation and fear our bodies experience when moving through this world. Through fashion and choreography the work aims to tie the physical and virtual together, creating an immersive movement through both dimensions.
Michał Zgierski
The animation created by Michał Zgierski is hypothesising about the visual aspect of a cultural transfer from our current social media into XR platform. Emphasising the freedom of design, Michal advocates for spaces of playfulness and expression.
Nino van Lith
The work of Nino van Lith is inspired by an older internet era. In a digital experience you can explore his digital sculptures, wearing the outfits he has designed. In a surreal exhibition space, you can roll around in his digital mixed media creation.
Alyssa Barkey
Alyssa Barkey's work is inspired by pareidolia paranoia: the human tendency to see or read meaning into existing but undefined shapes. You are invited to view the collection she designed in a virtual reality experience. Enter the room and experience the paranoia that a person might feel.
Sandy van den Brink
Fruits of Preservation is a project by Sandy van den Brink, which embodies the Kunuku way of life in a virtual fashion collection, preserving its beautiful spiritual and agricultural identity. Sandy aims to both destigmatize the kunukero identity and permanently log its ideologies, methodologies and traditions in the digital dimension. The collection thus exhibits an array of personal recollections and archival findings incorporated in garments for you to explore.
