A collaboration between Richardson and van Herpen, Neon Rapture is the latest example of the fashion industry pushing forward. By digitizing the experience, collections are taking on new meanings, making even casual viewers rethink how far a piece (or idea) can go.
Building an origin story
“My goal with Neon Rapture was to make a sci-fi film set within a completely unique world—to create a new universe and story inspired by Iris Van Herpen’s futuristic body of work,” says Richardson of the film, which was released on NOWNESS during this year’s London Fashion Week. “It was important to connect the world of the film with her body of work. From there I was able to create the premise for the story—a mythic original story and ‘birth’—that embodied aspects of van Herpen’s oeuvre.”At the center of that story is OMN1A, a character developed through a combination of motion-capture techniques and digital human design. The latter has opened up one of fashion’s first photoreal avatars, made to take van Herpen’s collection into the digital world. Fittingly, OMN1A is outfitted with a piece of couture that not only reflects van Herpen’s real-world design, but was based on the original pattern. This outfit wasn’t limited by real-world constraints, though, giving its creators the freedom to make its elements grow and shift with dramatic flair.
Source: Unreal Engine Blog