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ying gao’s robotic clothes shine with broken mirrors that dance on their own

Broken mirrors dance on ying gao’s robotic clothes

 

Ying Gao returns with a series of robotic clothes using shards of kaleidoscopic mirrors that flutter on their own. She pieces these broken pieces of soft mirrors together using medical cotton gauze refined with 18-carat gold finishing and sews them onto the garments. The electronic components, engineered by Simon Laroche, make these mirrors move, completing the robotic clothes. It may be the first time Ying Gao has used mirrors for her robotic clothes.

 

Previously, the Montreal-based fashion designer and professor has used metals and silicone, as well as camera sensors, to realize her robotic clothes. This time, she explores the idea of perfection, and what might be a better tool to present this other than broken mirrors patched together? It resembles kintsugi, or the Japanese practice of repairing broken pottery with gold. In this case, the pottery is mirrors, and maybe, they aren’t the only ones broken.

ying gao robotic clothes
all photos by Malina Corpadean, courtesy of Ying Gao

 

 

reflective surface with materials that fuse glass and silicone

 

For her recent robotic clothes, Ying Gao says mirrors offer a perspective on reality over truth. ‘The manifold reflections of a glassy, supple, and broken-up surface evoke an ambiguous ensemble, a reassembled reality,’ the fashion designer explains. She quotes Umberto Eco when he says that mirrors provide both an impression of virtuality and an impression of reality; we see what we want to see, and we see what we see and hide to see. By adding shards of mirrors onto her robotic clothes, the fashion designer can remind passersby of this point-of-view.

 

‘The mirror becomes almost intentional: it anchors itself to the movements of the person who brings it to life, its diverse reflections looking out,’ says Ying Gao. She creates a reflective surface using materials that combine glass and silicone and pairs it up with electronic components. By doing so, both the robotic clothes and the mirrors pitch the idea of a connection. It is somewhat a surface-level relationship with the viewers, but it is more of a personal association between the viewers and who they are that only them can understand. ‘The image of oneself (re)portrayed by the clothing of the other, distorted because fragmented, becomes the motif of a bipartite impression—that of the garment we are looking at, and that of the garment contemplating us,’ the fashion designer adds.

ying gao robotic clothes
for the robotic clothes, Ying Gao uses soft mirrors and medical cotton gauze refined with 18-carat gold finishing

ying gao robotic clothes
detailed view of the ‘all mirrors’ robotic clothes by Ying Gao

ying gao robotic clothes
the second piece has more prismatic properties

ying gao robotic clothes
the reflective shards of mirrors move on their own

ying gao robotic clothes
the electronic components that allow the mirrors to move are engineered by Simon Laroche

ying-gao-robotic-clothes-all-mirrors-designboom-ban

detailed view of the ‘all mirrors’ robotic clothes by Ying Gao

base of the clothing
base of the clothing

Ying Gao says mirrors offer a perspective on reality over trut
Ying Gao says mirrors offer a perspective on reality over truth

ying-gao-robotic-clothes-all-mirrors-designboom-ban2

the reflective surface uses materials that combine glass and silicone

 

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project info:

 

name: all mirrors

design: Ying Gao | @livingpod

robotics: Simon Laroche

photography: Malina Corpadean | @malinacorpadean

studio team: Espé Duenas, Marianne Frève, Pascale Tétrault, Ruochu Xie, Yasmin Tcheconi, Christophe Paré, Tommy Lecomte, Julien Villeneuve

director: Alexandre De Bellefeuille

editor: Guillaume Marin

cinematographer: Maxime Lapointe De Roy

first camera assistant: Luka Sanader

grip: Yvain Jeanmart 

best boy: Thomas Jacquet

makeup/hair artist: Katérie Portelance of The Project 

models: Sabrina Coridon of Another Species; Ophélie of Folio

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