High-Tech Dresses are the Sci-Fi Future of Fashion.
Robotics in fashion. Fascinating and futuristic, right? When thinking of how technology aids the most recent haute couture, it is an excellent variety of fabrics that shine in the spotlight. Chiffon, lace, leather, linen, and satin are easily available to us through machines which braid thousands of threads to create durability and strength in their fabrics. With the sudden increase in technology around us, it is inevitable for robots to be with us on the runway. Even in the spring of 1999, machines spray painted Alexander McQueen's dramatic white dresses on the runway. Now, in addition to working on the exterior, we have introduced technology inside clothing.
Finale of the Alexander Mcqueen show of 1999. Photo: Courtesy of Vogue Runway
Cameron Hughes, an astounding 28-year-old designer in New York, has been utterly changing the fashion game by creating clothing that appears alive through robotics. On Tiktok in 2020, Hughes created short videos displaying his projects and how he made them, which quickly gained popularity. Little did he know that these videos would lead to his work with celebrities, such as Doja Cat, Gigi Hadid, and Charli XCX. Through his in-depth explanations, we know he uses 3d printing, technology, and engineering to transform his ideas into reality. These videos allow his audience to be able to see the duration and depth each movement of a feather may be. Hughes, who has a BFA from Syracuse University and has taken classes in engineering, can accurately combine engineering and fashion in a way to turn fabrics synchronously, make feathers flutter, and rotate flowers continuously on fabric.
One of the first creations that got him popularity on Tiktok was his color-changing dress. A dress that is able to switch from one color to another may remind you of the Disney Aurora ball gown that changed from pink to blue with the help of fairies. Now, we don't need any magical intervention to help us create a dress that can change color. Hughes made long fabric combinations of pink on one side and blue on the other. These peplum-Esque materials will be added to the exterior of the dress so that the fabric, with the help of motors, can appear to be color changing. When commanded, the motors will turn so that the original side with one color will magically change to another. Although not as smooth as the version in Sleeping Beauty, the result is the same.
The process of making a dress is more difficult than meets the eye. "I had to go through so many iterations of which motors to use and how to stabilize it, and how to get them all to sync properly. It took me almost four months of work to get it right", says Hughes. Nevertheless, when watching one of Hughes’s videos, you can't help but to feel inspired to try to do the same. That’s the magic of technology.
The motors used to turn the pieces of fabric are programmed to move together. When coded to move together, the dress can turn from red to blue in a long blink of an eye. My favorite part of this dress is how the motors can be programmed to follow a song. Hughes, in one of his videos, programs the motors to be synchronized with Taylor Swift's "Red" (to play on the fact that his dress, red and blue, can match up with the lyrics in the song). Regardless of your musical taste, we all can agree on how spectacular this dress is.
When I first saw this dress, I thought of two things. One being, the sound of the motors. Wouldn't the sound of motors be loud during the transition from one color to another? But after watching one of his videos with the volume on, it was apparent that the sound of motors was quite minimal, assuming that one would not wear this dress inside a quiet church. And second, wouldn't all the wires be both heavy and visible? Hughes fixes this problem by creating the bodice of the dress, slightly oversized, holding the wires and technology that is programming this dress. By putting the wiring inside a part of the dress that would already be bulky, the dress can look effortlessly fashionable and intelligent.
The uses of this dress would most likely be during an event that is meant to show off the newest and most bold fashion, like the Met Gala or New York Fashion Week. Hughes talks of his dream to dress someone at either of these events. Broadway and theater actors and actresses could use this technology in order to quickly change their costumes to a different color during an on-stage performance. Either way, expect this technology at the next awards ceremony.
Photos of the dress turning from blue to red. Photo: @cameronhughes on Instagram
After the color changing dress made him over half a million followers on Tiktok, Hughes started to show some of his other unique creations. One of them is a headband with feathers that made with the use of 3d printing and, according to Hughes, “made very casually, just to go out in.” With the help of technology, the feathers on the headband can either cover his face or flare back out smoothly. In an accurate depiction of Marilyn Monroe, this technology could’ve been used to remake the "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes for the feather twirling part.
Hughes makes the feathers on the headpiece move with technology similar to the one in the color-changing dress. He uses motorized feathers with programming motors to allow for a wide range of movement. In order to create the headpiece so it could fit all the motors without being bulky and therefore ineffective, he used 3d CAD printing for all the parts. CAD stands for Computer-Aided Design Software and is the way to outline your needs so that it can be made into a file for the 3d printer to read. Without CAD, the 3d printer would not know what you need to create your product. Instructions like how much material is needed to deposit and where the material should go are all outlined using CAD software.
After Hughes 3D printed all the parts, which took days, he glued all the pieces together and assembled the electronics and wiring to program the motors. More specifically, he programmed the servos, which are the motor-driven systems with a feedback element built into it. The servos are programmed in a harmonic motion to make the feathers move together. With all the electronics and wires connected, he uploaded it to a microcontroller. A microcontroller is essentially the brain of the robotic machine. After everything is complete, the beautiful headpiece looks like something out of Legally Blonde. The ease of the movement of feathers makes you wonder whether the process of creating this headpiece is as complex as it really was.
Photos showing the transition of the feathers. Photo: @cameronhughes on Instagram
Celebrities have noticed the amazing work of Hughes and have been requesting commission of his designs to get a completely unique and innovative outfit for an event they are attending. Hughes has dressed Gigi Hadid in Brooklyn, programming on set to perfect the design. Using feathers like in the headpiece, Hughes also created a robotic feather "backpack" to be ebbing up and down behind her. The backpack is a creative way to hide the wires while making the weight easy to sustain.
Cameron Hughes with Gigi Hadid on the set of Next in Fashion Season Two in New York. Photo: @cameronhughes on Instagram
With that, Hughes still has a few goals to reach in his celebrity dressings. When asked about who he would want to dress next, he answered, "Lady Gaga and anything for the Met Gala. I know it will happen, it’s just a matter of alignment for a project that would warrant my work." With his creativity and technique, Hughes shows us that the world of truly sci-fi fashion is not too far behind.
BY IZZIE SCHULTE