Catch up on stories from the past week (and beyond) at the Slashdot story archive

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

Fashion in Space? 74

Posted by Zonk from the better-than-those-white-suits dept.
kandela writes "It seems the fashion industry has taken an interest in the space industry. Space.com is running a story about the Hyper Space Couture Design Contest, a fashion competition sponsored by the Japanese space agency, JAXA, and Rocketplane Ltd. for clothes that look good in zero gravity. The best designs will appear in a fashion show in Tokyo this fall." From the article: "Onuki said that, in working with fashion designer, Ms. Matsui, the intent is to cross-thread mathematics, science, art, and physics with fashion. To date, there have been several kickoff events, as well as fashion shows to stir interest in the multi-step contest. At the end of March, contest officials had received 882 drawings by 365 individuals. Last month, the top 10 designs plus three alternate designs were picked. The actual winner, second and third place will be selected later this year."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Fashion in Space? More

Fashion in Space?

Comments Filter:

  • What's so strange about that? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Judging by the bizarre *clothes* that are being shown on some catwalks, it's obvious that fashion designers aren't from this planet. :-D
  • Greetings, space beings! We come from planet earth and we bring you a fabulous new look.

    Is this how we introduce ourselves to the interstellar community?
    • Consider this from the alien point of view. Anything we wear - even if we're wearing nothing - will look as ridiculous to them as they will inevitably look to us. "Why do your females conceal their lactation ducts?" they'll say, while (perhaps) frantically trying to cover up their exposed slood fronds.
    • And with it comes a whole new spacecast: Terra Eye for the Alien Gu... er... lifeform

  • Skirts (Score:3, Funny)

    by rishistar ( 662278 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @05:36AM (#15515746) Homepage
    Skirts for the lady astronauts would still look good in Zero-G to me!
    • I think it's safe to say skirts would look even better, seeing as how they wouldn't have that pesky habit of covering what they're supposed to.

      • Re:Skirts (Score:4, Funny)

        by loraksus ( 171574 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @05:51AM (#15515774) Homepage
        The obvious solution is to make them tighter....
        And out of PVC or rubber...
        And black...
        And hobble skirts would probably work pretty well too. /hits pause on Matrix DVD // Whoa...
        • The other obvious solution is to make the skirts looser, so they're less likely to cover up the interesting bits.

      • Function over Form (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Hungry Admin ( 703839 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @05:55AM (#15515781) Journal
        Zero-gravity is a place where function is certainly going to be more important than form.

        On the other hand, one could combine the two, but that would require an awful lot of knowledge.

        Shape and material may have some unusual constraints for safety and maneuverability reasons, but there's no reason why color, artistry, or useful features could not make a jumpsuit into something a lot cooler. If I were going into zero-gee I would need a special pocket just for barf bags. Maybe automatically recycle it so that I don't go into electrolyte imbalance.

        I would like to see something built into the clothing that makes me exercise while doing normal work - with no gravity, muscles and bones degenerate rapidly.

        I would appreciate smart thrusters built into the clothing that would perform station-keeping, so I could press on things without rebounding across the room.

        This could be a really cool contest, worthy of Q department in her Majesty's Secret Service. Functionality with a flair.

        Maybe I should go to work for NASA.

        The Hungry Admin
        • Resisive clothing to aid exercise is actually a bloody good idea. Get on the phone to NASA!
          • Resisive clothing to aid exercise is actually a bloody good idea.

            If you meant "resistive" clothing, Soviet cosmonauts used the idea back on the old Salyut space stations. Lots of built in elastic cords to force the muscles to work harder. The cosmonauts called them "penguin suits", and hated them -- but they worked.
    • It worked for Captain Kirk. But wait, they had gravity . . . hmm. Oh well. It still worked for Kirk.
    • Skirts for the lady astronauts would still look good in Zero-G to me!

      Maybe so, but for zero-G I'll leave my kilt at home.

      It's difficult enough on a windy day. :-P

  • Silver jumpsuits (Score:5, Funny)

    by rbgemini ( 837601 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @05:47AM (#15515767)
    I thought years of sci-fi had taught us that the 'look' for space travel was the silver jumpsuit, ideally with some sort of stripe down the side. Even better if everyone has the same one. So I ask: shouldn't we be working on choosing which colour stripe the whole human race will have on their silver suits? I vote red.

  • Fashion on Slashdot? (Score:4, Funny)

    by bcmm ( 768152 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:01AM (#15515788)
    What's the world coming to? On Slashdot, "fashionable" is when we actually put clothes on.

  • Designer tinfoil hat!! (Score:3, Funny)

    by goldaryn ( 834427 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:05AM (#15515793) Homepage
    So, where do I get my designer tinfoil hat?

    (I hope those diamantes and platinum weave won't affect it's brain protection capabilities..)
    • Speaking of which, I need a new tinfoil hat, mine got busted.

      I guess the silver foil i used in the weave was to think, having been delaminated from cheap cd-r's.

      And don't forget to sleep... just make sure you can control the precise atmospheric gasses so you know they aren't blending in any mind control substances :)

      They will try to keep you from sleeping because you're easier to pick off in a crowd if you're staggering around as if drunk.

      the truth is out there!

      (well i thought it was funny anyways)
  • Take me to your tailor!

  • "Microcups Made of Nanopaper" (Score:4, Funny)

    by Capt'n Hector ( 650760 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:16AM (#15515815)
    For the ladies.... and the men, come to think of it!
  • Its only a matter of time.
    Any day now, the ooozing hot fashion models and guys will crawl into our cubicles and take away what we cherish most:
    our ketchup stained t-shirts
    our ethernall sandals
    our sacred java mugs!

    All of our supergeek powers will fade and wither away as we grow more and more popular with "society".

    Run while you still can!

    Thou it is kind of sad that they got to space before they got here...

  • I saw Misuzu Onuki speak (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I saw Misuzu Onuki speak at Questacon here in Australia. She was speaking as the representative of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) [www.jaxa.jp], live from Tokyo as part of the 2004 Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum. The topic was using space technology to better mankind.

    Ms. Onuki in particular had an interesting take on things. She spoke about how when people think of space travel they think about high devices like rockets and sattelites, but that a lot of the benefits of space travel will be in
  • In the future everyone will wear silver suits. We've already established that... ask any Slashdot reader.

    \
    • Security wears red, command wears gold and women wear less... And if you're on a space station, you wear a blue jumpsuit with a section that unfolds for some reason and have a damn radio glued to the top of your hand...
  • Never mind the shuttle has trouble getting launched these days. No matter that no human being has gone further than LEO since the 1960s.

    Just make sure our space tourists are well dressed and all will be well.

  • Really, is this so much of a challenge? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by loraksus ( 171574 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:41AM (#15515859) Homepage
    It isn't like these people are going to live up there for months at a time - they will go up for a few hours and then come back.
    Do you really need a new wardrobe?
    Pants will work just fine in zero gee, as will most shirts, especially if they are tucked in.
    If you want a skirt / dress, great, toss some plastic strips (hell, zip ties would probably work) inside to prevent it from floating up (or don't, I don't think most /.'ers will mind seeing the trophy wives that go up doing a futuristic M. Monroe thing ;)
    And what the hell is with some of the designs? It looks like someone took drugs while watching the jetsons on one tv and anime on the other and then started drawing. Extra crap will only cause problems since the people are going to be sitting for most of the flight.
    I do think that realistically, if a couple drops a couple (dozen) million for a trip up there and as the zero g time grows longer, there is a good chance that a couple will want to have sex up there - with the company's approval or not, so I think that skirts will become pretty popular (unless the company provides a jumpsuit to prevent "easy access"). Call it the 100 mile high club or whatever. I haven't seen many numbers on it, but every time I've flown internationally, I've seen at least one couple go into the bathroom together - nobody talks about it, but it seems to be fairly accepted as long as it is discreet.

  • Lots of 'stupid' tagging. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by loic_2003 ( 707722 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:48AM (#15515870) Homepage
    It seems many (most?) stories these days seem to have earned the 'stupid' tagging underneath it. Any chance of some proper news? I feel that over the last few weeks, slashdot has really gone downhill in terms of news quality. Today's 'spy gadgets' advert pissed me right off.

  • Shuttle / station crews... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by jpellino ( 202698 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @06:48AM (#15515871)
    Have been picking their non-technical garb (i.e., shirts, as you ened the velcro-laden shorts and pants) from Lands' End and adding mission patches, however the gov contract menas Lands' End can't brag about it... Ditto Acorns slipper-socks.
  • In the Larry Niven known space novels the belters wear space suits by their own designs, and of course there is fashion in skin tanning.

    The concepts sounds quite logical to me.
  • That's why everyone in the future wears skin-tight uniforms or goes naked (aside from a big glass dome over the head and a ray gun)

  • There goes the neighborhood (Score:4, Insightful)

    by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @07:12AM (#15515930)
    So, the shallowest industry on the planet thinks space needs a makeover. Great, as if the space program wasn't losing credibiltiy as it was.
  • are sure to be out of this world!

    Of course, with some of the designs that have come out of the fashion industry, I wonder what planet some of the designers are from.
  • I, for one, plan to look absolutely delicious in my space outfit and matching designer helmet when I conquer those Invid bastards!

    Sincerly,

    Zor
  • Also, can I have a cool stripe running down the leg like Han Solo?

  • *pulling the trigger* - *KazZzipp* *KazZzipp*
    ET : "Haha, human antique technology..."
    Stitch : "But their suits looked terrific!"

  • Red Shirts Are Out (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    As long as I don't have to wear a red shirt on any planetary excursions.
  • We need the Chinese KungFu Masters to design clothes. They are used to Zero-G as they defy gravity all the time...

    My dragon is hiding behind your crouching tiger!
  • OK, I'll pretend to speak for Slashdot fashion.

    1) Clean (at least to cursory glances) && (top of drawer || front of closet)

    2) Total annual clothing purchases < $200.

  • Fashion designers... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by GrievousMistake ( 880829 ) on Monday June 12, 2006 @10:47AM (#15516816)
    Frankly, I wish they'd just leave clothes design to engineers. Yes, all clothes design. I want durable, comfortable, functional and light garments in a simple, neutral design, whether or not I'm in orbit.
    • I also want 'durable, comfortable, functional and light garments in a simple, neutral design, whether or not I'm in orbit.' Why is this such a hard thing to find these days? I already have a hard time finding plain denim jeans recently. I am so sad they don't make Levis 501s anymore. I don't wear golf shirts.
  • Its 2006, its about time we get some cool space clothes to wear. Now they need to work on flying cars.

  • H2G2 (Score:2)

    by turgid ( 580780 )

    So, they've invented the wheel, but they can't decide what colour it should be.

  • Let them hold the judging of the "fashions" on the "Vomit Comet" [hud.ac.uk] . I so want to see a whole row of the fashion bullshiterati vomiting in synchrony.

Slashdot Top Deals

The use of money is all the advantage there is to having money. -- B. Franklin

Close