As a student in the textiles program at the Royal College of Art in London, Jungeun Lee wanted to find nothing less than a new way to make a garment. But after researching different yarns and methods and coming up empty, she just decided to make her own. The result, “Wrapped Garment,” uses synthetic fiber and a heating process to create three-dimensional, sculptural designs that require no cutting, weaving, or sewing.
The influx of new production technologies in fashion has created some interesting designs — from Issey Miyake’s rapid prototyping, Amy Winters’s light-reactive clothing, even jackets made from microbes.
But Lee’s method is actually quite simple: Wrap the synthetic fibers (either lots of short ones or one long thread) around a mannequin using a normal two-dimensional pattern made out of cardboard, then apply heat. The process can be used to create products — note the shoes as well — that end up looking like a cross between Herzog & de Meuron’s National Stadium in Beijing and a cosmological map.