The growing trend of geometric patterning

[gallery] Fashion designer Irina Shaposhnikova created this gorgeous collection called Crystallographica, which consists of garments inspired by geological formations of crystals and minerals. The application of geometrical patterns is making a comeback in design aesthetics lately. Philips Design created a beautiful exploration for their Design Probes series called Fractal: Living Jewelry, which was also inspired by crystalline formations.

Opposite of natural geometric formations, some designers are allowing the fabrication tools to create geometric patterns. Rem Koolhaas' United Nude created Low-resolution modeled footwear that resulted in strong geometric patterns. And Mashallah Design and Linda Kostowski created digitally printed garments using an unfolding polygon method that is commonly used by industrial designers to explore dimensional forms through paper models.

I can't help but imagine using the simple geometric shapes as a platform for electronics. For example, could the material in Shaposhnikova strict triangular-patterned slacks be replaced with solar panels to harvest energy? Or could a triangle or two in her dresses be replaced with a display?

Read more about Crystallographica on pleatfarm.com. Photos from pleatfarm.com.

Rodarte lights up his collection

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During fashion week 2010, fashion designer Rodarte lit up the runway with gorgeous glowing heels that he incorporated into his showcase collection. I've seen a lot of "light up" clothing that is poorly executed and somewhat inconsequential. What I like about this attempt is the connection between electronics, high fashion, and self expression. Aside from Rodarte's heels being absolutely beautiful (I'll take two please!) is that he integrates the electronics into the design to add more richness to the solution as opposed to focusing solely on the electronics only. In other words, he uses the technology as an additional aesthetic that helps create a richer context and story for self expression.

Read more on Alison Lewis' blog here. Images via switch and TheFrisky

Amy Thompson creates Plastic Analogue

This collection was recently sent to me by my friends at n-ktr. This gorgeously functional, yet slightly unwearable collection called Plastic Analogue created by Amy Thompson instantly reminded me of an analog version of the wearable robotic device that Honda has been investigating. Each piece is mechanical, exposing the function, joints, and seams as the aesthetic centerpiece. What would happen if this type of aesthetic was applied to the work that Honda is doing?

Read the post on Honda's wearable robotic device.

Low-resolution modeled footwear

I girl can never own enough footwear. So, in my never-ending quest for shoes that I can't live without, I ran across these beauties created by United Nude founded by the drooling-ly fabulous architect Rem Koolhaas. What's interesting about these shoes is the way in which the surface was designed. The designers at United Nude have been pushing the limits of 3d modeling techniques. The surface pattern of this shoe named "Lo Res" was created by scanning in a 3D model of a shoe, then reducing the model's polygons down to the lowest resolution and smallest file size. As a result, the surface celebrates the model's minimal polygons as if it was stolen from a Second Life avatar.

Related posts: Digitally Printed Fashion

Voice pattern knitting

Magdalena Kohler and Hanna Wiesener are exploring the intersection between communication and fashion through their voice knitting collection TRIKOTON. The garments visualize the human voice in a dot-matrix-type knitted pattern creating a new aesthetics of speech pattern that is directly integrated into the textile of the garment. To generate the pattern, Kohler and Wiesener hacked a 1970s mechanical machine to make it interactive and produce the patterns. Here's how they describe how it works:

"The scheme of pattern cards of old, mechanical knitting machines was used for an audio data program, realised in processing. Now the frequency band of a spoken message is converted into a binary code for knitting patterns. [W]e used 4 microcontroller and 24 small engines in order to imitate a pattern card that could be directly controlled by the voice signals via a computer."

I would love to get my hands on one of these. More info about this project at trikoton.com.

Light as texture

Fashion designer Hamish Morrow is exploring light as pattern and texture. Video is projected onto an all-white dress that creates this gorgeous illuminating pattern that changes and animates.

The dress is completely impractical, but it demonstrates the effect that a dynamically changing pattern can have on the mood, historical connotations, and emotion associated with the garment.

More on Morrow here.