Maybe these works of “elite students” can give us a hint.
Believe it or not, everyone has been swept away by a set of 3D printed AirPods Max accessories recently. This set of AirPods Max 3D printed earrings was launched by 17-year-old Hong Kong artist and designer Offgod and St. Petersburg personal creator Gleb Kostin. Due to its cute cartoon character modeling, exaggerated and strange contours, it quickly spread on domestic and foreign social media platforms, even attracting the attention of celebrities such as Pharrell
3D printing technology has sparked endless imagination for the future, especially in fashion, or the fashion trend industry. It has been rendered more than once that this technology can bring great innovation to design and production, but more than a decade has passed and 3D printing seems to have not been able to cause a big splash in the fashion trend field. In fact, just like Offgod’s out-of-the-box designs, 3D printing is shining in the fashion trend world.
3D printing has been one of the earliest and most widely used applications in the fashion industry, particularly in the footwear sector. However, compared to mainstream brands, it is the smaller, niche brands and creative workshops that have been able to make the most of 3D printing technology to create truly unique and eye-catching footwear designs, such as those from NOS AILES.
At the last two Met Gala ceremonies, two sets of eye-catching outfits were worn by Canadian pioneer musician Grimes in 2021 and BOY magazine editor Fredrik Robertsson in 2022. These two sets of “medieval armor” dresses and “thorny halo” dresses were all created by Iris van Herpen, and through her extraordinary imagination and 3D printing technology, they presented visually explosive exaggerated personality styles.
In recent years, items such as “alien glasses” and “alien hats” from brands such as Balenciaga and Walter van Beirendonck have remained popular. In addition to shoes and clothing, jewelry and accessories have become increasingly unique in the current fashion trend. Paris-based avant-garde designer Rohan Mirza takes this category even further into the “other dimension” world with 3D printing technology.
No matter if it’s individual designers, creative workshops, or high-end fashion, they still have a relatively small audience. So how can this technology be pushed to us ordinary people by various mainstream brands in what way and at what time? This is something we have been looking forward to and expecting. In fact, mainstream brands such as Adidas and Nike have been continuously experimenting with 3D printing technology. Although they have been restrained due to factors such as cost, material functionality, and mass production.
Not only ordinary consumers, but also major brands are exploring how 3D printing technology can fully penetrate into all corners of fashion trends. From existing cases, it is not difficult to see some commonalities. First, the modeling level must be avant-garde and personality, and do not waste the greatest advantage of this technology of “free sketching and fine modeling”; second, product splitting and category differentiation, professional functional slightly weak or production process simpler categories, may be able to create more.
