Space Couture runway show

What would you wear in outer space? Fashion designers, space entrepreneurs, and intergalactic travel advocates gathered to answer that question recently on a runway (the couture kind) near Los Angeles International airport. BBtv's Xeni Jardin was there, with two pro fashionistas providing live critique and comic relief: Nony Tochterman of Petro Zillia, and Oren Shepher of Spear Collection.

"Space Style 2007: A Giant Leap for Couture" took place during the TRANSFORMING SPACE, an annual conference hosted by the California Space Authority (CSA) and the California Space Education and Workforce Institute (CSEWI).

Participating designers included Louise Bisby, Rain Sherman, Danielle Kelly, Samantha Ceora, Payam Emrani and Syuzi Pakhchyan of SparkLab (her cool LED light-up bracelets have been covered in Make:CRAFT -- 1, 2). Misuzu Onuki, creator of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) space couture fashion show, presented the finalist designs from that competition. Martin Bergstrom of Sweden showed off burka-like headdresses, and "mathematically-inspired" Japanese designer Eri Matsui presented a zero-G-inspired wedding gown.

The event was co-produced and co-hosted by Randa Milliron of Interorbital Systems, a Mojave-based rocket company working to make space transportation a reality, and Karyl Newman, an artistic consultant to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. California Space Authority (CSA) hosts included Andrea Seastrand and Celeste Volz Ford. Link to photos by Sam Coniglio.

Music: Casino Mansion, David Habif, and Roman Kovalik. Video art: Steve Nalepa.

Below: BBtv fashion analysts Oren (left) and Nony (right) glimpse the future of spacewear, and they're not sure quite what to make of it.



Discussion

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#1 posted by Anonymous , November 9, 2007 4:55 AM

I can't help but be troubled when fashion's idea of space apparel is a shiny bikini.

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Those two looked totally gang-pressed.

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... anyway the only spacey washion shown there was Xeni's jacket she really looks like she's about to pilot a space shuttle.

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Barbarella (the Jane Fonda movie) comes to mind.

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This clip is hilarious. That dude is like a real life Bruno.

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"Speechless"

Yeah, that about sums it up.

Watching this, I had great imaginings of rehearsals ...

"Kiki, you're not bouncing in unison with the other space vixens!"
"Chloe, that move where you blow the smoke after shooting your laser-shooty-thing... genius."
"Adrianna, your hair-cone is listing to one side. Get Hair on that right away!"
"Does the mutant alien guy HAVE to wear glasses? I thought we were going to go with contacts! He's ruining the menace."

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@Guabaman, ROFL, that's cuz I was wearing the space flightsuit they gave me to wear on the Zero Gravity flights! I stuck some Vader and Yoda stickers on it. There was an astronaut in the house with the same flightsuit. It was weird, like showing up at the Oscars and seeing some other chick in the same gown.

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The taller gal with the hair cone had a sort of Sean Young vibe going for her, so at least there's that much of a sci-fi reference going on. Seems mostly like the show's organizers grasped at the straw of space, but most outfits shown I can't imagine ever seeing anywhere other than a fetish club. I need a scotch and vodka and bourbon just watching this.

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#11 posted by Anonymous , November 11, 2007 5:16 PM

that is the funniest thing I have ever seen! Those two fashion people are awesome... they should have their own show!

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Some of these outfits make no sense, they have pieces of fabric that require gravity to stay in place! The black shawl thing over the shiny silver dress would only work if there were some type of tie down to attach the shawl to the dress. And the fabric masked thing would end up walking into pylons as the person wearing it wouldn't be able to see past the fabric floating in front of their face most of the time.

The lack of gravity seems like the primary consideration for space themed design. That could be abstracted out to the search for form and sense of place in the unbounded reaches of space. They could have worked suspension elements into the pieces, bowed plastic elements and bridge-like spans. Or use ultralight elements with airjets to inflate fanciful forms stitched into the design of the piece. Streamers of some form could be a design element acting as an acknowledgment of surroundings (through the ripples caused b the air currents) while tangibly alluding to roots in the relaxed shapes them strips of material would take most of the time.

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Xeni in the flightsuit was the hottest thing there -

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Nosida, you speak with the true skiffy voice.

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So, some of my pieces were featured in this show. . . . .
The two fashion analysts Oren and Nony were amusing to watch. I would have liked to see what they had to say about my stuff (which was not included in the video [is that a good thing or a bad thing?] Mine was a bit more tame than the "Burning-Man-meets-Raver-ish" feel that was shown in the footage). A bit more of a classic vintage feel, believe it or not. . . .. I'll try to post some photos on my profile. . . .


and yeah, Xeni in the flightsuit WAS pretty hot (I have to admit it)

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I liked the jumpsuit.

I'd go with a deep red one, lots of pockets and white racing stripes down the side. Then throw in a black leather aviator helmet and some big heavy boots. Maybe one of those funky axes from the Amok Time episode of Star Trek.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/STAmokTime.jpg

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