2015 Gala Sneak Peek: Phi Illuminated Designs

Video by Paul Spenard

Designers Kenzie Housego and Stacey Morgan return this year and collaborate with engineer Sophie Amin on innovative wearable technology. Enjoy the sneak peek, their dresses will be on the runway on March 28, 2015 at Telus Spark in Calgary.

Be the first to see this live! Purchase tickets to the 2015 gala now.

2015 Gala Sneak Peek: Virtually Vogue

Video by Paul Spenard

Designers Catherine Hazin, Dianne Gibson and Kelly Hofer team up with engineer Dan Damron to create bridal garments for our wearable technology fashion show.

Be the first to see this live! Purchase tickets to the 2015 gala now.

2015 Gala Sneak Peek: Eos and Nyx

Video by Paul Spenard

Emerging designer Zoe Klintberg and engineer Kevin Loney team up to create this beautiful garment that will be featured at the third annual wearable technology fashion show.

Borrowing from Greek mythology, the Éōs & Nyx project embodies the ancient story of transformation from the night sky into the dawn. When both pieces are worn together the Nyx (night) cloak twinkles with real-time constellations and moon phase, while the Éōs (dawn) dress remains lightless and asleep beneath. But once Nyx is removed, the stars and moon go dark and Éōs slowly begins an awakening from dark purples and reds, to brighter pinks and oranges, until finally the sun pendant bursts into golden life and the dress glows with animations
of real-time weather.

Be the first to see this live! Purchase tickets to the 2015 gala now.

MakeCocktails 2014

Last Saturday was filled with tantalizing drinks, lights, belly dancing, and a great community. It sounds like a strange combination, but it works well! So here’s a quick over view of what went down.

MF

 

Partnered with Absolut Canada, we hosted our second MakeCocktails event at the Endeavor Art Gallery. Absolut Canada was in attendance making delicious cocktails throughout the night. This event gave a very unique view into the inner workings of MakeFashion with beautiful live makeup and hair transformations by Jason Mellor and Ivonne Arsenault throughout the night. Models graced the floor, posing and twirling around wearing some favorite pieces from previous years’ shows. The event concluded with a beautiful and exotic bellydance performance that energized the audience.

We also announced our kickstarter campaign for the Nebula digital pendant. Saturday night we were at zero and today we are only a few hundred dollars short of our goal, so a big thank you to this wonderful community that wants to see makers thrive in our city. If you are interested in donating, you can right here!

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We’d like to give a big thanks to Absolut Vodka, all our fabulous volunteers, and the MakeFashion crew for making MakeCocktails a success. MakeFashion is a continuous collaboration with organizers, makers, and most importantly, the community.

Keep posted for more events, monthly blog posts, and more!

Cheers yyc

– Photography and article by Mary Yohannes Getaneh, a second year Journalism student at Mount Royal University and our MakeFashion intern.

2015 Gala Date Announced!

 

Update: Location announced and tickets now available! Telus Spark: 220 St Georges Dr NE, Calgary, AB

Purchase Tickets Here

Requesting media passes? Information here.

Thanks to those who attended our launch event in Calgary! Our launch event is our kick-off for the year, and our teams are now working hard on their 2015 wearable tech pieces.

We’ve announced the date for our 2015 gala. The gala will take place on March 28th 2015 at Telus Spark. Tickets will be available soon, follow us on twitter at @makefashionca and on Facebook for details. The last two years have sold out, so we expect our third year will as well!

We rely on our team of volunteers, so if you’re interested in volunteering, contact info@makefashion.ca for more information.

We will also be touring after the event. Last year our pieces toured around the globe including Shenzhen (China), Rome, New York, and Las Vegas. If you’re interested in showcasing MakeFashion at your event, contact info@makefashion.ca – our pieces always draw a crowd and media attention! We are also accepting sponsors and partners.

 

We look forward to seeing you on March 28th and at future events!

Purchase Tickets Here

photo by Andras Schram

 

 

TechBurlesque at Beakernight 2014

Performance, tech, and geeky glamour take center stage at Techburlesque!

Join us at Beakernight for a free event celebrating feisty fashion and wearable technology. You’ll never think of tech the same way again!

Sept 13, 2014

8:30PM, doors at 8PM
Little Big Street, Lotus on Olympic Way and 12th Ave SE
Free event, 18+

More details at the Beakerhead Beakernight event page.

photo by Kelly Hofer

Model Search: Monday July 14th

Get discovered!

We are looking for the next face of MakeFashion and seeking models of all heights, sizes, and ethnicities for runway shows, high fashion photo shoots, and publications. Representatives from MakeFashion as well as Luxe by Calgary Bride and The Wedding Fair will be in attendance.

Monday, July 14th
7PM – 9PM

Endeavor Arts Gallery
#200 1209 First St SW, Calgary, AB

RSVP: info@makefashion.ca

MakeFashion Spotlight: Medusa Fabulosa

MakeFashion Spotlight is an insider’s look on our 2014 gala pieces. Follow us as we showcase each of our designers and the inspiration and technology behind their work. Photos by Edward Ross photography.

 

Video: Paul Spenard

 

“I was born in London, England and moved to Calgary with my parents when she was was five so I guess you could say I grew up in Calgary. After high school I moved around a lot spending time on both the East and West coasts of Canada. I moved back to the Calgary area in 2003 and now live in Black Diamond, a small town south west of Calgary. What I like about Calgary is the mountain views, our western heritage, the Chinook winds, the creative innovation that seems to be present here in all sorts of art and business ventures.

I first began working with wearable technology when I was working in film in Vancouver. My first exploits involved incorporating LED’s, fiber optic fabric and animatronics into special effects costumes.

In 2012 I was designing costumes for the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede and we did a number of costumes that involved LED’s and Arduino micro-controllers for the evening Grandstand show.

I found out about MakeFashion in 2012 when I went to a Meet and Geek at Protospace. I was in the midst of building the costumes for the Grandstand show and was really excited about all the new technology that was coming out and wanted an R&D project to work on to further this. I designed the Chameleon Cocktail dress for the first MakeFashion show in January 2013.

 

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Photo by Edward Ross photography.

 

The biggest inspiration for the 2014 piece was Jellyfish. I wanted to create a wearable art piece that reflected the essence of a Jellyfish. Technology in the piece included Fiber optics, Litex LED ribbons, Lilypad arduino, individual RGB LED’s, LED strip lighting, Synthesia custom LED controller, and rechargeable Li-Poly batteries.

When starting a piece I like to do a sketch of what I want the final piece to look like and then work to achieve that goal.

When we started Medusa Fabulosa there was myself, Vlad Lavrovsky (the technician) and a glass artist involved. My sketch came out of a couple of discussions between the three of us last spring. We had looked at a number of materials and techniques that we wanted to use in the piece.Unfortunately the glass artist became really ill and had to bow out of the project but Vlad and I stuck to the original concept and I tried to find ways to still incorporate glass or glass-like pieces into the work.
The outside fabric was dyed and/or airbrushed to get the effect I was after. The prop jellyfish and headdress base were heat shaped and molded from thermoplastic fabric and then decorated. The neckpiece was made from knitted copper wire, glass pieces, marbles, beads, crystals and ribbons.

Creating the inner frame for the Jellyfish skirt required some engineering as this was also going to support all the LED strips we were using for lighting the skirt. I also wanted the skirt to “bounce” so it took a couple of mock ups to perfect the “bounce” factor.

One of the hardest things to predict is what will go wrong. There is always something that comes up that does not go as planned and it seems like one of the biggest challenges is dealing with this or trying to find an alternative usually at the last minute.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted a dancer on pointe to model the piece and present it in more of a theatrical dance performance on the runway.

Working on this piece I learned that there are never enough hours in the day! For new designers, I recommend to research, experiment with materials and techniques, go to Protospace and the workshops offered at Endeavor Arts.

You can see more of my work on my website: http://fabricadabra.ca/

– Angela Dale, returning designer for MakeFashion two years in a row.

The 2014 MakeFashion gala brought to you by OnConference in March 2014 had over 400 attendees and showcased an inspiring collection of local and international wearable technology. E-mail info@makefashion.ca for information on how to become involved as a volunteer, designer, tech enthusiast, or sponsor.

MakeFashion Spotlight: Dragon Queen

MakeFashion Spotlight is an insider’s look on our 2014 gala pieces. Follow us as we showcase each of our designers and the inspiration and technology behind their work. Photos by Justin Poulsen and Edward Ross photography.

Video by Paul Spenard

 

Elle Nguyen, creator of “Dragon Queen” with Aman Dhalay was born and raised in Calgary.

“I love how Calgary is filled with big city dreams and plans but still has a small city mindset. My first experiences with fashion and wearables was through creating cosplay projects. Last project was a simple lighting design using acrylic line and LEDs to creating different effects on a Starcraft inspired jumpsuit and modifying a dollar store gun into a much larger gun but adding a speaker, on/off switch, and aluminum facing. When I was a young as four, I always got in trouble for taking apart any electronic to see the inside workings – not all were put back together in working order again…

I discovered MakeFashion when a writer from my online blog team attended the last show. This was my first year participating in the event.

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Dragon Queen by Elle Nguyen and Aman Dhalay of Javeda. Photography by Edward Ross Photography.

 

The dress designer and I drew from our own cultures to create a fusion of Chinese and Indian styles. Aman and I sat down to create design and came up with a quick idea, inspired by the creative designs of past Victoria Secret Wings on the runways, but were unhappy with it. We created another design that was closer to the Javeda brand – a bridal design. Then we met up with Yeats Wong of Yeats Magic Co, an illusionist who has built some of his own illusions to come up with a more interactive design. He also helped with deciding what materials to use to keep the design lightweight.

Technology used in the dress includes:

  • EZ Robot controller with WIFI connection powered by a Li-Po battery
  • A wired speaker
  • LED strip & LED lights
  • 3D Printed Eyes

One of the most interesting technologies used in Dragon Queen is a mobile application can be downloaded from the EZ-Robot mobile website and installed on any mobile device. Then, when the mobile device connects to the dragon via WIFI, the mobile device can control the movements of the dragon.

“We both work in the fashion industry and wanted to build something that would not only push us into the world of wearable technology but also share our individual brands to the world. We wanted to show that we were more than just a fashion designer and a website technician. We wanted a challenge, but we still wanted our project to reflect our work.”

The initial movement was powered by flexinol. I had purchased a learning kit but when I applied the concepts to the dragon, the movement was subtle and I was worried that it would not be noticeable from the runway. Then, Shannon Hoover teamed me up with Jeremie of EZ-Robot and then the movements for the dragon became perfect.

One thing I learned this year was to create a piece that is directly interactive with the audience. My advice to inspiring designers is to create something that is more than lights – something that the audience can tell that is obviously controlled by sensors.”

– Elle Nguyen, first-time designer for MakeFashion. Read her recap of the event here.

 

The 2014 MakeFashion gala brought to you by OnConference in March 2014 had over 400 attendees and showcased an inspiring collection of local and international wearable technology. E-mailinfo@makefashion.ca for information on how to become involved as a volunteer, designer, tech enthusiast, or sponsor.

MakeFashion Spotlight: Common Experience

MakeFashion Spotlight is an insider’s look on our 2014 gala pieces. Follow us as we showcase each of our designers and the inspiration and technology behind their work. Photos by Edward Ross photography.

Kathryn Blair and teammate Ryan Blair, creators of “Common Experience” are both from Calgary.

“I like that the maker and art communities in Calgary are very open and easy to get involved with. It’s also a city that’s changing a lot, and it’s exciting to be a part of that. I came to work with wearable technology via physical computing, which I’d worked with for some art work in the past. My first wearable project was for MakeFashion 2013. It was called “Somatic System” and it was a coat that used a temperature sensor and a pulse sensor to monitor the wearer’s mood. It would then change colour and play music to correct (calm) a bad mood, or maintain a good mood.

You could totally commercialize a headband that would tell the world how much attention you’re paying, but it would be so scary!

I’m very interested in biofeedback and exploring the intersection between mind and body – it’s so easy to think about your mind as a separate entity from your body, and easy to think about your mind in other context – identifying with other people, imagining what it would be like to be different. That’s totally vital for our ability to empathize with others. But our minds are a part of our bodies, and our bodies have a huge impact on how we think and feel, both the physical reality of our brain, and the physical reality of other parts of our bodies, and of course external stimuli also impact our brains. I love exploring those intersections, and wearable technology and EEG provides an amazing set of tools to do that.

 

The technology used in Common Experience includes:

  • Neurosky Brainwave Starter Kit (http://store.neurosky.com/products/brainwave-starter-kit)
  • Raspberry Pi (https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11546)
  • Programmed in Python
  • The python-mindwave-mobile library: https://github.com/robintibor/python-mindwave-mobile
  • RGB LED strips (like these): http://www.aliexpress.com/item/waterproof-RGB-LED-strip-light-SMD-5050-LED-strips-DC12V-SMD5050-60-led-M-5M-roll/1309890652.html?s=p
  • Hobby servos like these http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__662__HXT900_9g_1_6kg_12sec_Micro_Servo.html
  • Lipo batteries – http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/__9394__Turnigy_2200mAh_3S_30C_Lipo_Pack.html

 

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Kath Blair models “Common Experience”. Photo by Edward Ross photography.

 

When building Common Experience I worked with my husband, Ryan Blair, to figure out how to execute. I tend to get an idea and execute, and my revisions tend to be in the specifics and how I’m executing, rather than the idea overall. So of the basic idea, there was pretty much one draft. Of the specifics, there were hundreds of revisions of exactly how we should do things, how it should look exactly, what it should be made of. Many of the deciding factors were practical – will this work? Will it look good? Will it move the way I need it to?

I come at this more from a visual art background and having done programming and physical computing before, so I serve as my own technical support on the programming side, and my husband Ryan is great with electronics. I also got some help from Dave at Solarbotics, and on the fashion end, from Julia Wasilewski, a costume designer.

Rather than use a model, I chose to wear the piece myself! I was very focused on getting down the runway okay and trying to keep my timing decent. I like to model my pieces myself because for me it’s kind of about that relation / intersection between wearer and garment. We had a great movement coached who helped me figured out a way to model it theatrically. She was great and very helpful!

Using the EEG (the input sensor) is the real wow factor of the piece. It’s so amazing that you can buy an EEG for $130 and read the data from it and use it to make crazy projects – nerf guns that fire based on your brainwaves, for example (http://hex-machina.com/hw/mindbullets). I used the EEG output – the attention level of the wearer – to control the colour of the lights on the garment, as well as to move servos, which pulled origami deployable structures into different states of tension.

This year I learned a lot of programming and I’ve never worked with servos or Raspberry Pi (or linux) before, but I think one of the most useful things I learned was about my personal process – I love to play with materials and test out different options, and I can put off making decisions (and spending significant money on materials) until I absolutely have to make that decision. My advice to new designers is to play with whatever technology strikes your fancy. Never wonder if you can accomplish something – see if you can find a way to do it before you dismiss it.

I think a lot of the body-monitoring biometrics is starting to become big, and starting to integrate, and I think that will get really all-encompassing and able to make better inferences about your body’s state and suggestions about what you should do, and it will be popular among the very health-conscious.

You could totally commercialize a headband that would tell the world how much attention you’re paying, but it would be so scary – who wants everyone to know if you’re not paying as much attention as they would want you to? I hope that doesn’t happen, so big-brother-ish.

You can reach me via my website, http://glass-slipper.net, or on facebook at http://facebook.com/kath.blair, or on twitter at @kathblair.

– Kathryn Blair, returning designer for MakeFashion two years in a row.

 

The 2014 MakeFashion gala brought to you by OnConference in March 2014 had over 400 attendees and showcased an inspiring collection of local and international wearable technology. E-mailinfo@makefashion.ca for information on how to become involved as a volunteer, designer, tech enthusiast, or sponsor.