1 Florian Pumhöst [20060906 blog]
2 F. van Waarden 2006
3 Royal Ten Cate, Nijverdal
4 C. Freeman & F. Louca 2001
‘Textile industry is metaphor for industrialization,’ as Florian Pumhöst mentioned Wednesday 6 September 2006 at the DARE-symposium1. Textile production and technical developments flowed together adding improvements to the weaving machine. The start of mass production in textiles, and thus the industrial revolution- 1771,2 made commercializing of clothing possible. The Netherlands’s first experience with this mass production standard began in Twente.
Because I was born and raised in Twente, it is no surprise that I am interested in this subject. Twente still boasts textile companies in my neighborhood, such as Royal Ten Cate3 [textile industry in Twente >>]
Freeman noticed that there has been rhythm to innovation since the eighteenth century, which has huge influences on society.4 [innovation waves >>]
I am looking for specific technical changes, like the use of new textiles and production processes, and not social changes.
5 Suzanne Lee 2005 p. 15
6 Bradley Quinn 2002 p. 3
Historically, fashion designers have embraced new technologies in the fabrication and fashioning of clothes;5 Design techniques used to create crinolines. Corsets were also considered a technical innovation.6 [crinolines >>]
7 David Gartman 2004 p. 71-96
At the end of the nineteenth century the automobile was invented. 1900_KCI318.JPG [Automobile outfit] This is a direct reaction on ‘one of the most influencing social innovation of the last centuries’: automobiles.7
Around 1900 electronic engineering began. Mankind started to dream more about society instead of just work. Inter local communities began to exercise their free time.1906_Punch_FF16.jpg [wireless telegraphy] Unfortunately most people could hardly move in their outfits! 1910_CKG226.JPG [stumble robe worn underneath the skirt to protect against stretching the fabric]
Silly as it might sound, the inventor of the radio hat was one of the first wearable electronic devises.
8 Giacomo Balla 1914 p 204
9 Filippo Tomasso Marinetti 1909 p 202
13 Bradley Quinn 2002 p. 4
‘A passionate call for rebellion against the establishment.’8 Designers start looking for new materials and colors, such as the anti-neutral Suit. The embrace of modern living and the products of the ‘machine era’ is an important contribution of Futurism as explained in the Manifesto of Futurism9.
Fashion designers also used the imagery of science and technology to express modernity and progress. [Bradley Quinn gives some examples >>]
Late 1930ies, the American designer Gilbert Rohde devised a spacesuit-like Solosuit. ‘It was at this point, that techno fashions began to emerge. As a pioneer of industrial design rather than a fashion designer, Rohde’s engagement with fashion heralded the many interdisciplinary collaborations.’13 Later in this research I will compare industrial designers to fashion designers and find out how industrial designers adapt technical innovations faster.
14 James Laver 1937 p 149
15 Guus Beumer [20070522 blog]
‘Practicality plays a very minor part in the formulation of fashion (…) otherwise they would have adopted something like the fashion of 1927, and kept to it for ever.‘14 Says James Laver in his book Taste & Fashion. Chanel is one of the first companies bordering about the comfort of clothing.15 Improvements in textile industry made it possible to produce softer and comfortable materials.
16 Bradley Quinn 2002 p. 6
Comfort- as well as functionality became important now. ‘The outbreak of World War II focused most designers on finding the means to survive despite the restrictions of wartime clothing rations.’16 Technology was largely absent from fashion until the 1960s, when the U.S. space program fused technology with clothing in the development of the spacesuit. ‘The new materials and design techniques that evolved as a result have had a significant impact on the evolution of techno clothing.’16
The U.S. Army is still the main investor in wearable technology and textile developments. [tencate: for US Army>>]
17 Balenciaga 1965
18 wikipedia.org 2007 first commercial production by DuPont, 1953 and open-end spinning developed in Czechoslovakia 1963
‘A good couturier has to be an architect for the plans.'17 Said Balenciaga. The invention of nylon and polyester18 introduced a new world of possibilities to twentieth-century fashion. These innovations influenced the material use as well as the shapes of garments. The material directly influences the shape- not only for the wearer, but also for production process and marketing of the products. Nowadays synthetics are produced in Asia.
By the invention of all these new materials the space look appeared again in outfits from the French designers Genreich, Courreges, Cardin and Rabanne. Lots of experiments with plastics and other unconventional materials modernized fashion- A colorful use of simple forms and A-lines.
19 Bradley Quinn 2002 p. 5
In the 1970’s fashion development slowed. Romantics and sweet flower patterns were still present, but less technical innovation in fashion. Meanwhile Japan was cranking out new products like microprocessors and mobile phones.
At the beginning of the 1980’s Japanese designers came to Paris. ‘Designers like Rei Kawakubo en Yeohlee Teng often work with concepts that appear to have more in common with architecture than fashion.’19 The principles of architecture, furniture design and technology were fusing together in a variety of garments collapsing many of the traditional boundaries between them.
The invention of computers made technicians experiment again with wearable electrical devices. Some production processes were reconsidered, but it was too early for any huge innovations and synergy in techno fashion.
History >> Conclusion
1 Have technical innovations influenced fashion throughout history?
Absolutely- especially in the production
processes and textile production. However, since the 1970’s the
implementation of these technical improvements took much time, even though
the production of clothing has never been prolific as it has been the
last few decades. Watanabe recalls the fact that ‘in the forty years
after the invention of polyester, the audiovisual technology developed
extremely, but fashion delivers nothing news.’20
It is likely that the next innovation wave will include synergy between
all different branches and developments. I like to call it the wave of
connections. This will influence the fashion world yet again.
In the next chapter the field analyses will encompass the decades up to
and including 2007. I thereby hope to find more cohesion between fashion
and technology.