Choosing a wedding dress is considered a time-consuming task. Of course, every woman wants to look more than flawless and perfect on her wedding day. For one bride, the solution to this problem turned out to be rather unconventional.
At her São Paulo wedding, Brazilian lawyer Mariana Pavani wore a dress by the Dutch designer Iris van Herpen. The high-neck gown was created by a designer destined to blend art, fashion, and technology. This is also the first 3D-printed wedding dress.
In order to create the dress, the body of Pavani had to be scanned. The 3D body scan of Pavani resulted in several in-person fittings of the hand-pleated base dress. This was followed by a meticulous marrying of the delicate fabric and the 3D-printed artwork, which were done at a specialized facility in Paris.
We wanted to express Mariana her love of nature, art, and her femininity while pushing the boundaries. We both feel fashion is a form of art and so she really dares to express herself to make her wedding a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The sculptural fluidity of her wedding gown is seamlessly blending traditional Couture craft with radical forward-facing techniques.”
Iris van herpen
The file size for the 3D design was 216.7 MB, and it took 41 hours to print it, according to van Herpen. Moreover, Nylon (PA12), a material that fascinated the designer, was used to manufacture the 3D elements.
“There are no seams. You could not do this with a typical pattern,” said van Herpen, whose Amsterdam atelier logged 600 hours to realize the design, preceded by much tinkering with ZBrush, a digital sculpting software.
“This was really a dream project for me, because 3D-printed fashions are in museums, and on runways, but having it worn by someone on the most special day of her life, I think it’s really something else,” said van Herpen.
Pavani, who and her husband Roberto Toscano, posted multiple photos from their wedding showing off the stunning dress, revealed she was emotional when she saw the final design.
Photo credit: Iris van Herpen
