Dress, one of two, polyester and stainless steel, manufactured by Dr Sharon Baurley using a spatter process, British, 1990-1994

These dresses are made from polyester fibres, and the colour and finish are obtained by a stainless steel spattered process. This process was originally used to produce car component with metal layers. The fabrics were woven and spattered in Japan by the Suzutora Company Ltd. The textiles have been embellished by thermoforming, which is a three-dimensional forming process which allows any shape or design to be engineered in the fabric. As thermoforming uses heat, and polyester is thermoplastic, these dresses have a permanent form and are washable. They were created by Professor Sharon Baurley at Central St Martins for her Textile Design PhD, when she developed this technique for clothing design by transferring materials and processes from engineering to textiles.