Ying Gao’s Moving Couture

Designer Ying Gao brings together science and fashion to create a spectacularly original design, like nothing you’ve ever seen before.

Gao must have been doing some light reading when she stumbled across Paul Virilio’s essay Esthétique de la Disparition translated as The Aesthetic of Disappearance. Fast-forward to the end of the essay and two original and vastly different dresses have been created. Both dresses are white with a few frills and other decorative touches. At first glance they look like average dresses, but pause, take a second, and realize the dress is moving. We’re not talking about blowing in the wind either, the dress moves on its own. It appears that the wearer of the dress has an awkward breathing pattern at first but turn off the lights and the dresses have a slow ebb and flow pattern.

image: v2.com

The concept of the new dresses are based on the contradictions of appearance and disappearance, shocking because no one could disappear in a sight-activated dress. Although you won’t want to stop staring at these masterpieces, the more you blink and look away the more the dress comes to life… So forget staring aimlessly at someone across the room because the dress will give your wandering eyes away! Sewn with photo luminescent thread and eye tracking technology the fabric is activated with a simple glance. We may not understand all the technical terms associated with how it works but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this is seriously cool.