Hi-tech goes high fashion with robot dummies and 3D dresses to kick of London Technology Week

Hundreds of international firms and tens of thousands of visitors are expected to participate at the technology event next week

Fashion designers will showcase their collaborations with the capital’s digital firms on Monday to kick off London Technology Week.

Installations by some of London’s best tech and design teams have been commissioned by the Mayor of London’s office, with robots, holograms and couture represented.

Hundreds of international firms and tens of thousands of visitors are expected to participate in more than 300 events across the capital, including technology developments in finance and education.

The fashion showcase will be launched at The Yard in Shoreditch on Monday morning, where installations include a 3D-printed dress, by Mode-clix, and the world’s first mannequin to use a hologram-generated talking head, by Headworks.

Brooke Roberts and Gintare Zukauskaite, from Holition, with a robot mannequin 
Nigel Howard

Fashion designer and blogger Brooke Roberts, a former NHS radiographer from Hackney, has created knitwear from machines that use brain scans as patterns. She also worked with Holborn-based 3D digital firm Holition to bring an open-source mechanised robot to life by beaming animated stop-motion couture pieces on to it, including an Issey Miyake corset and an Eighties dress by Gianni Versace.

The mannequins’ bodies are solid but their heads are holograms by London-based Headworks 

Mrs Roberts, who is curating Monday’s art showcase for London & Partners, said: “It’s a huge honour and I’m excited about Monday’s event kicking off the week, which is giving fashion and science and tech collaborators in London an opportunity to showcase what they’re doing and show how innovative we can be when we combined. This isn’t just about wearables and gadgets, we’re thinking about high-concept couture, high-end fashion and how this could work with technology.”

A 3D-printed dress by Modeclix

Among the designs to be featured next week is the Bruise Suit, developed by the Royal College of Art, which detects injuries in athletes with disabilities who have lost sensation in parts of their body. It enables them to identify where they have been hurt by applying a recyclable pressure-sensitive film to the skin to indicate the severity of the injury.

Infi-Tex is showing a sports jacket that allows music to be played through sensors using pressure-sensitive materials that can be printed into textiles. There will also be a behind-the-scenes look from London Fashion Week using 360-degree video.

Gordon Innes, chief executive at London & Partners, said: “London is a world leader in fashion, creative arts and design. When you combine this with the city’s growing technology sector, it is no surprise to see London at the centre of the fashion technology movement.”

For information, visit londontechnologyweek.co.uk

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