“Living” robot dress is here to remind us life is fleeting

In London, fashion brand Auroboros has designed a “living” concept dress from salt and recycled plastic that grows, changes color and shape in response to conditions, and will eventually fall apart. 

The dress, called Biomimicry, is being worn by a robot at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London as part of London Design Week.  “The design of the gown seeks to envisage how a plant would appear if it were to grow on a body, depicting how it would mold to the shape and silhouette of a figure,” designers Paula Sello and Alissa Aulbekova told Dezeen. 

Salt crystals, tinted green, were used as a middle layer between recycled plastic. An outer layer of crystals that grow and change shape were used to invoke movement. 

“The couture’s appearance will differ, depending on the time you view it,” Aulbekova and Sello said. “Those viewing it at a later stage will see larger crystals than those viewing it at the beginning of the showcase, as the crystals have had more time to develop and grow.” 

The crystals will eventually fall off the dress, like leaves from a tree.  “This ‘mimicking’ of nature’s life-cycle occurs as the gown exists in an entirely ephemeral state; in which the process of growth is fleeting, reminding us to cherish the beauty of the burgeoning life before its eventual end,” they added.