While the corset has been a fashion staple for decades, some designers are taking the sculpting trend to the next level. Emerging designers and fashion houses alike are experimenting with cast articles of clothing— garments made by shaping resin, leather, etc. either by hand or using a mould.
Rather than create corsets that manipulate your body, these designers are creating sculptures to complement your body. Cast apparel is blurring the line between art and fashion. The designs are reminiscent of the past with a futuristic feel.
Kim Mesches is an artist and stylist known for his resin cast dresses which function both as garments and stand alone art pieces. Mesche’s cast-resin pieces imitate the movement of fabric in water: they look like wet, sheer fabric, floating, twisting, and warping with the water, yet they cling to the standing model creating a fantastic illusion. Mesche draws inspiration from movement as well as art. The shape of the sculptures calls to mind the work of Botecilli and ancient sculptures. This is especially evident with the white resin pieces which look similar to the flowing fabric sculpted by the Greeks and Romans. Kim Mesches’ amazing dresses have already been dawned by artists like Mitski, Cardi B, and Normani.
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Esmay Wagemens is another artist casting resin using moulds to create tops, eyewear, leg and arm pieces. Unlike Mesches garments which appear suspended in movement around the models, Wagemens designs are sculpted to outline the body. The resin tops spread and shape across the natural curves of the chest and neck. Wagemen makes casts of the models body which she uses to mould the piece so it perfectly warps to their body’s natural shape. Rather than mimic the look of fabric, Wagemens’ pieces look more like a liquid splashing across the models body. These pieces have a more futuristic look to them. You can see Wagemens’ unique pieces featured in music videos for Kali Uchis and Cardi B.
Socrates Achilleos is an up-and-coming designer from Central Saint Martins who takes a slightly different approach to the cast trend. Throughout his portfolio, Achilleos plays with gathering and bunching fabric in all of his designs but recently he has taken it a step further with his hand moulded leather dress. This leather dress is shaped around the body with added folds and wrinkles around the neck, bust, and waist. The textile appears to cling to the wearer’s body as if the leather is wet. Similar to Kim Mesches’ pieces, the shape of the garment also calls to mind the sculptures of ancient Greece and Rome.
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The beauty of casts is that they do not change the natural shape of the wearer’s body, rather they are moulded around their curves. Some garments, like Achilleos’ leather hand moulded dress, highlight the natural curves of the models body. Other cast garments, like Mesches’ sculptures, create these otherworldly shapes around your body, turning the model into a walking art piece. Cast apparel can be moulded to fit any body, making it a very inclusive trend for all body types.
This trend also falls into the realm of futurism with its abstract shapes and illusive appearance. Futuristic fashion like this tends to become popular at times when the present is too stressful. These garments provide an escape from reality into a different realm where the line between apparel and art, suspension and movement are blurred. Keep an eye on these ground breaking young designers as they continue to mould the shape of modern of fashion.
