UB40 may have planted the soulful lyrics “red, red, wine” into our psyches, but never has anyone created red wine to be worn; until now.
Gary Cass, researcher at the University of Western Australia, was inspired to create this wearable, wet and seamless garment when he noticed a skin-like layer covering a vat of wine that had been contaminated with bacteria. The project is entitled “Fermented Fashion”, and according to Cass and his associate, Donna Franklin, this endeavour “investigates the practical and cultural biosynthesis of clothing -- to explore the possible forms and cultural implications of futuristic dress-making and textile technologies.”
The wearable art is composed of living microbes that grow into a fashion masterpiece described by Cass and Franklin as “a bacterial fermented seamless garment that forms without a single stitch.”
Unusual wearable items such as wearable tech gadgets, wearable light, and wearable paintings have emerged in recent fashion news, and wearable food has consumed (no pun intended) North American media ever since Lady Gaga showed up at the 2010 MVAs adorning a unique meat dress. What possible motivation could underlie such fashion oddities, one might ask?
According to Yeonju Sung, Korean designer who created a series of dresses made out of groceries, there is a desire to disassemble the meaning, functionality and symbolisation of clothing. Driven by this goal of reinterpreting food and clothing, she constructed a wearable food collection of haute couture gowns made with lettuce, shrimp, eggplant, chives, and spring onion.
Whatever the driving force may be, this pair of Aussies have inspired women to enjoy an encounter with finely fermented red wine in new ways - no corkscrew required.
Check out pictures of the wearable wine fabric and let us know what you think about it on Twitter.
