2 5 2 6 is an exploration of materiality in fashion design, with robotic garments that simulate the effects of virtual clothing.
2526 refers to the number of hours invested in the creation of the two polymorphic robotic garments, from ideation to the finish, from the first line of drawing to the last stitch.
NFT and digital fashion were the primary sources of inspiration for the 2 5 2 6 project, as they hold the unique status of not being constrained by the physical reality of materials. However, the two polymorphic outfits of the 2 5 2 6 project are very real: woven, hand-screened, and consolidated materials have been specially designed to create these clothes that simulate the effects of virtual clothing. A surreal undulation generates a play of volume and transparency; their polymorphic movement, as well as their reflectivity, are results of an entirely new flexible material that combines glass, precious metals, and silicone.
“If the role of the fashion designer is to imbue a form and a function to materials intended to dress the body, I wonder about the question of the immaterial garment and the virtual body, devoid of substance, when the digital has become a real ‘second nature’.”
Material: Organdy, glass, silicone, electronic devices
About Ying Gao
Ying Gao is a Montreal-based fashion designer and professor at University of Quebec in Montreal, and the former head of the Fashion, Jewellery, and Accessories design Program at HEAD-Genève. Ying Gao has achieved personal distinction through her numerous creative projects, presented in more than one hundred exhibitions around the world. Her varied creative work has enjoyed international media coverage: Time, Vogue, The New York Times, Dazed and Confused, Interni, ARTE.
Her work can be found in numerous private and public collections, including those of Dakis Joannou and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Photos credit: Maude Arsenault
