'Game of Thrones' actress woven into a 3D-printed, futuristic gown
At the unveiling of a fashion designer's new collection, Gwendoline Christie, the actress best known as Brienne of Tarth, was the centrepiece.
Fashion designer Iris van Herpen is a pioneer of 3D-printed couture, and her designs are anything but ordinary. Her clothing integrates not only 3D printing, but interactive elements as well, such as clothing that is designed to amplify body movements, or garments that respond to touch with sound.
Her latest collection, "Quaquaversal" (Latin for heading outward from a central point in all directions), was unveiled last week during Paris Fashion Week.
While models took to the runway wearing the collection, the centrepiece of the show was Gwendoline Christie, known for her role as Brienne of Tarth in HBO's "Game of Thrones." She will also play Captain Phasma in the upcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens."
As Christie lay on a raised platform, a circular dress, or quaquaversal, was woven upon her body. This live process involved a combination of 3D printing, laser cutting and hand weaving. Artist Jolan van der Wiel created the three sculptural forms that loomed over Christie and interlaced the mesh that spread around her.
"Van Herpen's work reveals the secret structures of our existence giving us a multidimensional experience of what it is to be alive, it is an investigation into the past, present and future in all its primal and mythological forms," Christie, who has previously served as a model for Vivienne Westwood, said on Van Herpen's website.
Van Herpen's spring/summer 2016 collection was inspired by living tree bridges in India, the juncture where nature and architecture combine, according to the designer.
"The beautiful potential of plants and other organisms to form living architecture inspired me to make a collection that is tangled like a maze around the body," she said on her website. "Inspiration came from the way plants and their roots grow, and how roots have been used to grow living bridges in the forests of India. This tradition of growing bridges inspired me to re-envision my process of making a garment."
The collection included lace in many forms, silver lace, nude lace, leather lace and transparent lace, embellished with Swarovski ceramic stones and crystal gems. Shoes were created in collaboration with shoe designer Finsk and were built upon a thin spine to convey the illusion of walking on the air.