[HN Gopher] The technology behind Bella Hadid's spray-on dress
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       The technology behind Bella Hadid's spray-on dress
        
       Author : Kaibeezy
       Score  : 125 points
       Date   : 2022-10-03 17:47 UTC (5 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (wired.me)
 (TXT) w3m dump (wired.me)
        
       | Fred27 wrote:
        
         | yamtaddle wrote:
         | On fark.com this headline would read:
         | 
         | "The technology behind Bella Hadid's spray-on dress and you've
         | already clicked nobody is reading this far"
        
         | q-big wrote:
         | > Nobody's reading that article for the technology.
         | 
         | I honestly did read it for the technology.
         | 
         | P.S. It is very plausible that the number of asexual people is
         | higher among nerds than in a representative sample of the whole
         | population.
        
           | [deleted]
        
           | yieldcrv wrote:
           | You don't need to be asexual
           | 
           | and I've seen this moment from the fashion show in a variety
           | of publications
           | 
           | Was this really a moment to bring awareness to asexual people
        
             | q-big wrote:
             | > Was this really a moment to bring awareness to asexual
             | people
             | 
             | The purpose was not to bring awareness (I do not care about
             | all this awareness virtue signalling), but to come up with
             | a hypothesis for this observation.
        
           | azinman2 wrote:
           | I read it too. Didn't even occur to me to sexualize this.
           | 
           | Instead I was thinking, wow that's cool, but the dress is
           | actually quite boring.
        
             | saalweachter wrote:
             | I did immediately think of /r/mendrawingwomen's frequent
             | complaint of "clothing doesn't work that way".
        
             | cantSpellSober wrote:
             | It made me realize how strange breast fetishism is when she
             | covered her nipples for modesty before having her spray on
             | dress applied
        
           | LorenPechtel wrote:
           | And even if you're a female-attracted allosexual you can
           | still be interested in the technology.
           | 
           | People always used to say nobody actually reads Playboy for
           | the articles--except it's clear plenty of people did. My
           | mother for one--she read the *braille* version, it didn't
           | even contain descriptions of the pictures let alone pictures.
           | (Braille versions of books/magazines typically contained
           | descriptions of pictures since they obviously can't contain
           | actual pictures. With Playboy the omitted the pictorial
           | articles entirely.)
        
         | ksenzee wrote:
         | not everyone here is a straight man, welcome to the future
        
         | m463 wrote:
         | Plausible deniability.
        
       | yalogin wrote:
       | For all intents and purposes it acts like a cloth? That means, I
       | am hoping, taking it off will be clean and not like removing
       | cotton from a rose bush.
        
       | Freak_NL wrote:
       | Intriguing. Probably not well suited for models with
       | arachnophobia though.
       | 
       | I wonder how strong the resulting layer is. The should straps
       | being adjusted in the video show that it's definitely not weak.
        
         | birdman3131 wrote:
         | Depends on what variant of arachnophobia they have. Many are
         | more afraid of the spiders and not the webs themselves.
        
           | andrewflnr wrote:
           | I've never heard of arachnophobia being a fear of webs rather
           | than, you know, the actual arachnids. It's utterly bizarre to
           | me that that would be GP's first thought...
        
             | turbohz wrote:
             | Where there's a web, there's gotta be a spider?
        
       | Tao3300 wrote:
       | > integrated with diagnostic devices that can monitor the health
       | of the wearer
       | 
       | Wtf? What grim meathook future establishment would involve
       | wearing spray-on smart clothes that monitor my vitals? Need to
       | know so I don't accidentally go in there.
        
         | scheme271 wrote:
         | There's a lot of people that would find that useful. I.e.
         | diabetics that need to monitor blood sugar levels comes to mind
         | but I'm sure there are other medical conditions were it'd be
         | helpful to continuously monitor some vitals. Fall sensors for
         | people that are prone to falling and who might need help if
         | they fall is also another use case.
        
       | annoyingnoob wrote:
       | Closets of the future look more like a paint booth?
       | 
       | Step into the booth, press the button. First, the spray-on tan,
       | then a quick dry, then spray on clothes.
       | 
       | Step into the booth again at the end of the day to wash it all
       | off and recycle it for tomorrow.
        
         | conductr wrote:
         | Sherwin-Williams logo and tag line says it all, "Cover the
         | Earth"
        
       | hanniabu wrote:
       | Sounds great to breath in, have directly on your skin, and for
       | the environment
        
         | q-big wrote:
         | I also wondered why the model and the person who applies the
         | spray-on dress on her do not wear some kind of protective mask
         | (like varnishers do for their varnishing work) while the
         | spraying work is being done.
        
           | Kaibeezy wrote:
           | Maybe it's not toxic, Occam.
        
             | llampx wrote:
             | Maybe it is and they didn't wear masks because it would
             | take away from the optics.
        
               | Kaibeezy wrote:
               | Non-woven fabric - WO2003104540A2
               | 
               | https://patents.google.com/patent/WO2003104540A2/en
        
           | josephmosby wrote:
           | Reading up on the stuff that's actually coming out of the
           | can, it doesn't look like there are particles that are small
           | enough to actually aerosolize into the air. They tout wool
           | and mohair as candidate things that can be sprayed.
        
             | q-big wrote:
             | > Reading up on the stuff that's actually coming out of the
             | can, it doesn't look like there are particles that are
             | small enough to actually aerosolize into the air.
             | 
             | I have my doubts whether breathing the small fibrous
             | particles that are contained in the spray won't have some
             | unhealthy consequences.
        
       | dqpb wrote:
       | Cool. What happens when you inhale it?
        
         | system2 wrote:
         | It is made with oxygen releasing nanobots. It increases the
         | lifespan of the model.
        
           | PaulDavisThe1st wrote:
           | Also, strength, endurance, cognitive processing, sensory
           | resolution and musical taste.
        
             | sp332 wrote:
             | But it uses a Crysis-style wheel UI where you only get one
             | of those things at a time.
        
       | fpoling wrote:
       | Somebody still reads <<Return from the stars>> by Stanislaw Lem.
       | Spray-on clothes were part of Lem's version of the future.
        
         | hinkley wrote:
         | If I'm not mistaken it also shows up in _Earth_ by David Brin.
        
         | mmcdermott wrote:
         | That was my first association as well.
        
         | cwp wrote:
         | I thought of "superskin" in Heinlein's _Friday_.
        
           | LorenPechtel wrote:
           | The same book came to mind, but in the context of
           | bodypainting. How long before we can make an inkjet body
           | painter--I'm thinking of some print arms that rotate around
           | the body on actuators that keep them very close to the skin.
           | Careful motion tracking of the body to ensure it's spraying
           | the right bit of skin as it moves. (I have a hard time
           | imagining a printer that's fast enough to hold a position
           | for, not to mention the need to breathe.)
           | 
           | And where exactly does that fall in terms of indecent
           | exposure? Make sure the bits that the law requires covered
           | have solid patterns at that point, it seems it would be
           | legal.
           | 
           | (On the other hand, I have doubts about the practicality of
           | wearing body paint in ordinary life--what can be durable
           | enough to take what life routinely dishes out, but easy to
           | remove? He also missed the fact that people only in bodypaint
           | should follow nudist convention and sit on a towel.)
        
       | pazimzadeh wrote:
       | > Bella Hadid's spray-on dress uses 3D technology
       | 
       | Okay
       | 
       | Edit: http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html
        
         | zwieback wrote:
         | Yeah, it's a stretch. Applying stuff to your body that then
         | cures or hardens is not new but I guess in the past it's always
         | been for molds (sculpture, prosthetics) but in this case the 3
         | dimensional thing is the direct result, not an intermediate
         | step. I would like to see something a bit more than skin-tight
         | clothing to call it a real 3D production process.
         | 
         | I do think it's cool, though. My body is too crap to pull
         | somehting like this off, sadly.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | wccrawford wrote:
         | Right? I don't see how this relates to "3d technology" of any
         | kind.
        
           | cantSpellSober wrote:
           | You'd have to get all the way to the fourth sentence:
           | The spray-on fabric is applied using the likes of aerosol
           | tech, industrial sprayers, and 3D printing
        
           | kitd wrote:
           | It's mentioned in the article. 3d printing is one form of
           | application, as well as spraying and painting.
        
           | margalabargala wrote:
           | I used 3d technology last weekend when I used a shovel to dig
           | a ditch.
        
             | intrasight wrote:
             | I used 3D technology to make my lunch today ;)
        
             | bowmessage wrote:
             | How long did it take? Might have been 4D!
        
             | moralestapia wrote:
             | A 3D technology just flew over my house!
        
         | 323 wrote:
         | This news item was extremely viral, it was all over Instagram.
         | 
         | It makes sense for Wired to write about this just for clicks,
         | (as evidence being linked here). No need to be a submarine -
         | those are for un-viral subjects.
        
       | neogodless wrote:
       | Came here to see if anyone else was getting a strong Silly String
       | vibe. So far, no. It really looks like it to me, except I suspect
       | a lot more adhesive (to itself) than Silly String, while
       | remaining "not too adhesive" to skin.
        
         | jrumbut wrote:
         | Silly string was my first thought because my friends and I used
         | to try (semi successfully) to make costumes applying it like
         | they do. It worked best with a near empty can when it comes out
         | fragmented like in the video.
         | 
         | Now if only we had been more glamorous about it we could have
         | beaten this company by 30 years!
        
         | Promyvion wrote:
         | From the article: "Originally, the spray-on dress started with
         | a can of silly string. "I thought I could create a mist,"
         | mentions Torres in a 2013 TED Talk. "That was the eureka
         | moment." he adds. The technology can be used in fashion to not
         | only create dresses like done on Hadid, but also to repair any
         | damaged items."
        
       | einpoklum wrote:
       | A pinnacle of waste in the textile-industry. Not is it enough
       | that most articles today are produced to intentionally fray or
       | come apart after a short-to-medium period of time, now we're
       | encouraged to go in the direction of wear-it-once spray-on stuff.
       | But - it's "Green" so everything is ok.
        
         | happyopossum wrote:
         | TFA mentions specifically that the clothes can be washed and
         | re-worn...
        
           | einpoklum wrote:
           | Oh, the article says so. Sorry, how could I be so mistaken?
           | I'm sure we could use that spray-on dress for many years.
        
       | caseysoftware wrote:
       | If this can be de-composed and reconstituted, it starts to look
       | like a Star Trek replicator. It could have some wild implications
       | for fashion where "yesterday's" style can be remade into
       | tomorrow's trendsetting look overnight.
        
       | skc wrote:
       | Curious what happens when you sit down and chafe it
        
       | Synaesthesia wrote:
       | So this will save me time in getting dressed in the morning.
        
         | mcphage wrote:
         | It didn't exactly seem like a _quick_ process...
        
         | uup wrote:
         | You'll never have to do the laundry again
        
       | enriquec wrote:
       | They used "sprayable non-woven" fabric like fabrican (it was on
       | the discovery channel in 2013 apparently:
       | https://youtu.be/nKZuPPjoxHQ)
        
       | hn_throwaway_99 wrote:
       | I'm really interested in how they made this a "dress" and not
       | "pants". That is, from the Instagram video, Bella Hadid comes out
       | completely naked except for underwear. You can see as they're
       | spraying that she's keeping her legs close together, but still in
       | the final scene where the assistant cuts the slit up the side,
       | the dress then hangs like a "normal" fitted evening gown. I feel
       | like they must have skipped over some parts about how they kept
       | this "silly string" from getting stuck between her legs.
        
         | henryfjordan wrote:
         | It looks like she stands with her legs pressed very close
         | together so that there's not really a chance for the material
         | to form a pant leg. Towards her ankles it looks like pants do
         | start to form but are cleaned up by assistants:
         | 
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz_ltPAzuJI
         | 
         | I imagine you are correct that there were a few
         | steps/techniques not shown in the video.
        
         | intrasight wrote:
         | I was wondering if she had a transparent "wrap" on her thighs.
        
         | amflare wrote:
         | In the video it looks like one of the assistants sprays across
         | the front of her legs, but from the side, so that a lot of
         | strands are crossing the gap in her legs. Only then they moved
         | around the front and started applying over these supporting
         | strands.
        
           | btown wrote:
           | Since we are on Hacker News, I will say that this is not only
           | a very cool technique in the physical world, it's also an
           | amazing pattern to have when writing algorithms: think about
           | your "support" and your "feature building" as potentially
           | separate passes.
           | 
           | Say you have a bunch of dynamic business rules that you need
           | to apply onto a calendar of days, or a canvas of spreadsheet
           | cells, or another discrete collection of slots where
           | information could go, or even a continuous domain (in all of
           | which some type of gap-filling and continuity might be
           | desired).
           | 
           | Rather than looping in one pass over your rules, and trying
           | to figure out how to simultaneously fill gaps and write
           | meaningful information into specific places, it might be
           | helpful to first pass over your rules and think "where is the
           | support area that might be needed, all of the places where
           | some rule or combo of rules _might_ write information. "
           | After all, if you're just thinking about support, you can
           | trivially combine things, because you're just applying some
           | kind of union operation as you go along.
           | 
           |  _Then_ you can do another pass, where you worry about order
           | and precedence and complex inter-rule interactions, while
           | knowing you already have a pre-made  "canvas" on which you
           | can paint and - in the real-world analogy - play with color
           | and texture and all that fun stuff.
           | 
           | Of course, you no longer have an algorithm that can handle
           | streaming data, but two passes are still O(N), and the
           | resulting code can be infinitely more readable.
           | 
           | (To the mathematicians out there, I do apologize for being
           | inspired by, but completely ignoring the nuance of,
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Support_(measure_theory) - but
           | I think it's a useful mental model even when generalized in a
           | less-than-mathematical way!)
        
             | copperx wrote:
             | I love this idea. I've had to make this decision before
             | (one or two passes). Now I'll do two passes for readability
             | and stick this comment in my code:
             | 
             | // Daddy, chill. Two passes are still O(N).
        
         | 323 wrote:
         | Maybe it's both, as in the substance completely fills all the
         | available space, like a triangular wedge. We can't really see
         | the underneath of the dress.
        
         | conductr wrote:
         | If it's like fiberglass you can shoot it thicker to create a
         | bridge of webbing, then spray finer material over that base
         | webbing and essentially create a fabric
        
         | dfxm12 wrote:
         | Her legs were close enough together & the stuff was being
         | sprayed at such an angle that it wasn't wrapping around
         | individual legs in any meaningful ways.
        
       | JoeAltmaier wrote:
       | They created a traditional design. But that design is what it is,
       | because of limits of fabric and construction. I'd like to see
       | what could be reimagined using this - strapless, or interlocking,
       | or multiple-tiled-pieces, or what? Let's see no more ordinary
       | strap-over-the-shoulder sheath dresses.
        
         | happyopossum wrote:
         | Strapless dresses are already a thing, and a well worn (no pun
         | intended) path at that.
        
           | JoeAltmaier wrote:
           | Sure. But how about one made of a crosshatch pattern? You
           | know, something creative that couldn't be done (easily) with
           | just cloth.
        
       | insane_dreamer wrote:
       | > spray-on sterile bandages from aerosol cans
       | 
       | this sounds very useful so you don't need to have bandages of
       | different shapes/sizes in your first aid kit
        
         | spicybright wrote:
         | Look into liquid bandages. It's exactly this and is already
         | available at every drug store. Comes as a little nail polish-
         | style bottle + brush.
         | 
         | It sterilizes and seals, pretty much replacing my whole bandaid
         | kit I used to keep in my pocket book.
         | 
         | I'll even buy a bunch at a time and give them out to friends.
         | It's so useful yet no one knows about it.
         | 
         | (That said, you won't be sealing bullet wounds or giant gashes
         | with it)
        
       | fortran77 wrote:
       | I wonder if the same technology can be used for an improved
       | version of spray-on hair
        
       | causi wrote:
       | _can be washed, re-worn_
       | 
       | Ok, then show me that. _That_ is interesting. Show me a painted-
       | on body suit after ten trips through the washer /dryer. Who cares
       | about some spray-painted model?
       | 
       |  _consists of short fibers bound together with polymers and bio
       | polymers, and greener solvents that evaporate_
       | 
       | So he shredded fabric and mixed it with paint. Who thought this
       | drivel was newsworthy?
        
         | hinkley wrote:
         | So... microplastics?
        
         | carnitine wrote:
         | Would shredded fabric and paint ordinarily form a dress when
         | sprayed?
        
           | causi wrote:
           | It will form a layer of glued-together unwoven fabric like
           | the one on Hadid's body, yes.
        
             | thatguy0900 wrote:
             | She took the shoulder straps off after and had them
             | dangling. It wasn't attached to her like what your
             | suggesting
        
             | function_seven wrote:
             | > _It will form a layer of glued-together unwoven
             | fabric..._
             | 
             | Yes.
             | 
             | > _...like the one on Hadid 's body_
             | 
             | Absolutely not. If you watched the video, the end result
             | was a garment that was not stuck to the wearer. The straps
             | were independent from the shoulders. The rest of it flowed
             | and fluttered like real fabric, and not like the typical
             | "spray on dress" we've seen before. It's not a coating once
             | finished. It's a separate thing.
             | 
             | Notice how the fabric didn't cling to her inner legs, but
             | bridged that gap instead.
             | 
             | Now I agree that I'd like to see how durable this thing is
             | once it's been washed. I'll accept whatever wash method is
             | standard for a fancy dress. That is: if it can't be tossed
             | into a normal washing machine, but _can_ be handwashed with
             | Woolite in the sink, then that 's good enough for me.
        
               | AlanYx wrote:
               | I think it adheres somewhat/partially to skin. When the
               | assistant slides down the first shoulder strap in the
               | video, there seems to be some resistance, as if the
               | material was gently stuck to the skin and then lightly
               | released/pulled away. That seems consistent with the
               | Fabrican webpage, which says that the fibres "adhere to
               | each other and to the surface sprayed". I imagine that
               | there's a portion of the video not shown where the
               | assistant gently tugs other parts of the fabric away from
               | the skin.
        
           | Kaibeezy wrote:
           | Fabrican's patented spray-on fabric technology
           | 
           | https://www.fabricanltd.com/about/technology/
        
             | iudqnolq wrote:
             | That's what this is
        
       | cobertos wrote:
       | Any risk of inhaling those fibers becoming an issue in the lungs?
       | Wouldn't want this sprayed on me and it found out to have the
       | health effects that asbestos does.
        
         | happyopossum wrote:
         | Those fibers are pretty large, so yeah - you soundly want to
         | inhale them, but it looks like it'd be pretty easy not to.
        
       | bigwavedave wrote:
       | All I can think of are the "spray-on shoes" from "Cloudy With a
       | Chance of Meatballs".
        
         | m463 wrote:
         | What about the makeup applicator device in the 5th element?
        
           | dosenbrot wrote:
           | Homer Simpson invented a make-up-shotgun.
        
         | dools wrote:
         | All I can think of is the spray on swim suit in Futurama which
         | is more or less exactly this.
         | 
         | "How do I look?" "Like a cheap French harlot" "French!?"
        
           | TheAceOfHearts wrote:
           | This was the first thing that came to mind as well. Here's
           | the clip link: https://youtu.be/RwGc7Btg-Cs
        
       | tonymet wrote:
       | Despite fashion varying over time it tends to become more and
       | more revealing.
        
       | somecommit wrote:
       | Great, now invent a vacuum working the other way around
        
       | Lendal wrote:
       | They mention the obvious medical uses like spray-on casts and
       | spray-on bandages, but what about spray-on physical restraints?
       | Or spray-on condoms? Get creative, think outside the box.
        
         | conductr wrote:
         | I'd rather have a functional web shooter than any practical use
        
         | xwdv wrote:
         | A larger version that can be blasted like a foam cannon into a
         | large mob could provide for efficient crowd control when you
         | need to arrest multiple people at once.
        
           | rodgerd wrote:
           | Judge Dredd's riot foam.
        
           | zimpenfish wrote:
           | Better than the riot foam they've already tested, I think[1],
           | which looks to me just like a huge tank of expanding
           | polyurethane foam...
           | 
           | [1] https://www.howitworksdaily.com/experimental-crowd-
           | control-r...
        
             | hinkley wrote:
             | As with most less-than-lethal products, it's all fun and
             | games until you hit someone in the face with it.
        
           | dtgriscom wrote:
           | Or, provide for safe sex for all of them at the same time.
        
         | tantalor wrote:
         | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray-on_condom
         | 
         | > The biggest problem, however, was that the drying process
         | took 2-3 minutes before the condom was dry enough to use, which
         | was too long to be truly marketable.
        
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       (page generated 2022-10-03 23:00 UTC)