3D printing on the red carpet

Garments designed by a collaboration between Zac Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs have been worn by celebrities on the red carpet of this year's Met Gala.

The Met Gala took place on 6th May 2019, where hundreds of guests attended in themed outfits as part of the annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City.

Zac Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs unveiled a collaboration featuring a range of innovative, sculptural 3D printed garments and accessories inspired by the concept of freezing natural objects in motion.

Posen works within the fashion industry, focussing on innovative ideas, whereas Protolabs and GE Additive are manufacturers. GE Additive and Protolabs have worked closely together for many years and have previously collaborated on the development of 3D printing technology and production processes.

Over the past 6 months Posen and his creative team explored a range of 3D printing and digital technologies with design engineers and 3D printing experts from GE Additive and Protolabs. 

Posen believes that his latest collaboration incorporates innovative ideas and cutting-edge technology, whilst being sophisticated and glamorous. Posen said about this collaboration: “I dreamt the collection, GE Additive helped engineer it and Protolabs printed it.”

At the Met Gala four gowns and a headdress featuring 3D printed elements and structures were worn by celebrities such as Jourdan Dunn, Nina Dobrev, Katie Holmes, Julia Garner and Deepika Padukone.

Jourdan Dunn wore a custom rose gown by Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs. The gown featured 21 petals which were on average 20 inches in size and weighed 1lb each. Each petal was designed to be unique. The petals were fastened in place by a modular cage which was invisible from the outside. The dress was designed to a 3D re-creation of Jourdan’s body, and  the petals were made of Accura Xtreme White 200 durable plastic and printed on a stereolithography (SLA) machine. The petals were finished with primer and colour shifting automotive paint (DuPont “Twilight Fire” Chromalusion). The cage that fastened the petals was made of Titanium (Ti-64) printed on a GE Additive Arcam EBM machine. The printing and finish of the rose gown reportedly took over 1,100 hours and was printed at Protolabs’ 3D printing facility in North Carolina.

Nina Dobrev wore a custom bustier by Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs. The bustier was a clear printed dress with 4-piece assembly designed for a custom fit. The interior was designed to perfectly match Nina Dobrev’s 3D re-creation, and the bustier was made of Somos Watershed XC 11122 plastic and printed on a SLA machine. It was finished by wet hand sanding and sprayed with a clear coat to give it a glass appearance. The printing and finish of the bustier reportedly took over 200 hours and was printed at Protolabs’ 3D printing facility in Germany.

Katie Holmes wore a custom Posen gown with a palm leaf collar accessory which was designed by Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs. The pearlescent purple palm leaves were draped over her shoulders and attached to her gown at the neckline. The palm leaves were made of Accura 60 plastic and printed on a SLA machine. The structure was finished with pearlescent purple paint (Pantone 8104C) and held the custom Posen water coloured tulle gown at the clavicle. The printing and finish of the palm leaves was said to take over 56 hours, and was printed at Protolabs in North Carolina.

Julia Garner wore a custom Posen ombré silver to gold lamé gown, with a headpiece designed by Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs. The intricate printed vine headpiece with leaf and berry embellishments was printed as a single piece on a Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) machine and made of Nylon 12 plastic. The headpiece was finished by brass plating. The printing and finish of the headdress took over 22 hours and was printed at Protolabs in North Carolina.

Deepika Padukone wore a custom Posen metallic pink lurex jacquard gown, which included embroidery by Posen, GE Additive and Protolabs that was sewn on. The embroidery was made of Accura 5530 plastic and printed on a SLA machine. The embroidery was vacuum metalised, and center painted with Pantone 8081 C. These 408 delicately printed embroidery pieces were attached to the outside of the custom gown. The printing and finish of the embroideries took over 160 hours and was printed at Protolabs in North Carolina.

Traditionally, fashion designers used hand-drawn sketches before draping fabric on a mannequin to form and shape their creations. However, the collaboration with GE Additive and Protolabs works by combining standard fashion design techniques with computer aided design and 3D printing to produce a range of garments for the fashion industry. Through 3D printing, designs are able to be manufactured that would have been difficult to achieve with the traditional methods of fashion design.

Although previously it may have been thought of as an unlikely collaboration, the combination of design engineers and Posen works well to enable 3D printing to have an impact on peoples’ everyday lives.