Fashionable Technology Concept: Flight
A Philadelphia University, Graduate Global Fashion Enterprise Creation.
Creativity Concept:
One of the most known icons for the past thousand years, the Angel, everyone has aspired to become or be guided by one; regardless of faith. This noble being is respected by all and seen as a majestic creature. Fashion has in some form attempted to internalized it; be it of minimalist clothing or unconventional patterns interpolating it. But what if we could dress like one and retain a functional article of clothing. Something both fashionable in pure aesthetics and utilitarian in design. Susceptible to the beauty of wind, light, temperature and movement. No longer a static icon, but an active ionic article of creativity.
About the team:
Brenden A Moore — Developer of electronic component integrations, microprocessor utilization, CAD modeling and computer science calculations. His primary focus for this project will be on the construction of the wing bones, feathers, harness and movement of clothing.
Wenyi Wang — Designer of ergonomic clothing patterns, textile sourcing, fashion presentation and custom solutions. Her primary focus for this project will be on the pattern making of the clothing, industrial sewing, textile selection, vibe and transformation theme.
Sample concept of clothing with wings:
A minimalist designed couture article of clothing for females will be devised, similar to a dress with inspired east-Asian aesthetics. Light hues will be used, leaving minimal darker hues for the wing supports. Microprocessors, spring/motor systems will be sheathed within the 3D printed supports (wing bones). The feathers, be them of iconic design or unconventional design such as 90-degree angles (etc) will be used. The wings/feathers could also be an entire sheet of textile similar to bat wings. Some utilitarian function should be devised such as solar cells on each wing or feather; or when the wings deploy, it acts as ventilation to the clothing in hot weather (opens up with holes in the dress, etc). The opposing fashionable side will be devised at a later time with inclusion of electronics if not the above concepts. The fashion element could simply be the dress and wings themselves.
Movement systems to explore:
Spring-loaded system (example: umbrellas)
Centralized spring-loaded system located at bottom of each wing, two additional springs each located at wing joints.
Pros: Rapid deployment of wings, can support additional weight per wing, guaranteed deployment of each wing and locks in place
Cons: Much harder to retract wings, more weight per wing, less flexibility. More difficult to find a programmable way to retract upon request, likely needing a stitch of sorts on each push button.
Stepper motor system (example: used of pulleys)
Stepper motors or micro motors located at each join.
Pros: Recharger via Lipos as they can be recharged via solar cells, unlike generic batteries. Steppers have extreme strength in a small form factor. Easily programmable.
Cons: Prone to failure via water. Limited elliptical movement. Far slower to fulling deploy wings than spring-loaded system. Limited strength from micro motors. Generally more heavy than a spring-loaded system.
Power consumption:
The spring-loaded system is idle for less power consumption as it uses no electrical current however it makes it extremely difficult to retract steel rods and may require opposing springs to retract (same joint, one loaded forward, other loaded backwards) and lock in place by use of body movement.
The stepper motor system is ideal for ease of deployment as it is all done via electrical current. However to drive each motor requires at least 9 Volts of direct current each. Three joints X two wings, six 9 Volt battery, plus the power necessary to power the microprocessor. Their exists no Lipo battery for 9 Volts only 3.7 Volts, this would mean it is non-rechargeable. Rechargeable micro-motors could be used however this would require additional motors per joint for powered retraction.
A hybrid could be devised allowing a spring-loaded system to deploy the wings instantly and retract the wings slowly via micro-motors. This would of course would require an extreme lightweight substrate textile used for integrated electronics. The supports would also need to be lightweight; ~10–20% infill with Nylon or PTCG filament with acetone fusing is a good candidate. nGen FLEX filament could attach any textile to the supports giving elastic properties if required. Conductive Graphite filament could equally be used for the supports reducing the total weight and giving current and ground lines to the electronics.
Weight to overcome:
Both systems will be prone to weight constrictions. Optimal testing at a 1:1 scale will provide exceptional results, however life sized at a likely 1:8/1:16th scale poses difficult to chart results. Additional the type of filament and textiles will only make powering more difficult. An extremely lightweight yet interesting textile will need to be found. Visiting Material Connexion could help but acquirement may become costly. Theory testing will be unreliable and only applied design will yield useful results. Weather resistant wing bones will be difficult to find and again rely on applied design. Wings that can move based on weather conditions such as wind but still retain bone structure is an optimal solution for visible aesthetic design but could hinder utilitarian design.
Textiles construct:
Various textiles will be utilized from both within the United States and abroad too. Materials used will be bought from large venders so mass-production can continue for long-term sales. In-person research will be utilized durning summer 2017 with visits to asian fashion-centric cities such as Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Beijing. Supply lines and business connections will be established. This will either lead to a revision of the initial construct or assist in the development of a new project.
3D construct:
Various printable filaments will be used in the projects experimentation. We believe the next steps in wearable fashion will be the integration of 3D printed components, in addition to electronics. It has already been proven you can print a dress as well custom size elements for each individual. It could be theorized because of this, all future clothing will be printed and possibly at home. Concrete has recent been 3D printed into housing and food is now being printed, it is not a far thought to think all clothing needs could be the same.
Transformation:
A continuous theme of transformation will be seen throughout the design. A focal point is the wings and their means of transforming the dress into stage two; akin to a phenix rising from the ashes. Stages one and two will be vastly different in ascetic and vibe. A dark and light theme is likely to be used. The dark being more mysterious and the light being more angelic. Motors will assist in the transformation and direct tied into the fabric itself, given means to the forces required to make such transformation possible.