DIOR X GIU Lab
La Bague De Doria
Dior Project took part to get explore to Phygital fashion in depth. Getting introduced to this project in my positing as a teaching assistant in fashion design faculty at the German international university (GIU), where a framework of the partnership between Dior and German International University was created under the name “Dior X GIU Lab”. I was briefed alongside fashion design students and other teaching assistants with the theme of the projects we will work on independently.
Look 1
Physical Garment & It's Digital Twin
The digital garment was created through CLO 3D while, the Digital avatar was sculpted through Zbrush, Autodesk Maya and textured in Substance painter.
A night blue jacquard fabric was chosen for executed design and its silhouette was developed from Christian Dior's early collections.
The back of the garment is embellished with gemstone embroidery whose design was developed from an illustration from Dior's archive
Look 2
The main theme of Dior x GIU Lab project is An Egyptian muse (Doria Shafiq) was chosen for the fashion capsule collection. The mission was to engage with her story, achievements and legacy to find my own perspective and narrative to create a collection which pays tribute to her, all while conversing with the codes and values of the house of Dior. Dr. Shafiq was an exceptional Egyptian intellectual, feminist, activist, editor, poet, writer and a style icon in her own right. She embodied the pioneering empowerment of the modern woman globally, and truly exemplified the power of femininity and feminism combined. I realized a digital collection and one of my designs into a physical garment. In this project, I crafted my own direction and perspective to experiment the creation of digital and physical garments, the Phygital fashion workflow and the digital garments as a commodity.
Fantasy Gown
Look 3
Real Gown "technique"
Floral River
In this look, the brief was based on the theme of the flora as a Vivid Code at Dior, Reinterpreting the Miss Dior dress as a tribute to Doria “the Muse.” The dress is under the same theme and storytelling but with additional concept. The Dress is called “Floral River.” The concept of the dress was inspired by the Nile River water hyacinth, and it was a tribute to Doria Shafiq since she was named “The daughter of the Nile.” In addition, there was a strong relation between Doria and the flora’s persona, they both have extraordinarily strong roots, grow by themselves, and fought by people.
The Execution idea here was to create two versions of the gowns, one is a 3D digital fantasy version design, and the other is the real version of the garment when implemented in real life with fabrics and materials. The concept of the digital gown shown in the form of animated texture of water falling from the upper tip on the shoulder to the bottom of the gown to convey the idea of the river. The flora would be distributed all over the dress, just as the flora is all over the Nile River.
Paris Trip
Dior Maison
We as a team were invited by the House of Dior to present our creative project, ‘Dior x GIU Lab,’ in front of a prestigious jury in Paris, France. Through workshops and mentorship sessions, we were guided along our creative projects and inspired by top management executives from Christian Dior Couture. The event culminated in the unveiling of my collection and other students’ collection at the Dior Learning Lab. To complete the experience, we were then immersed into the rich heritage of the Maison, exploring the Gallery Dior, the House's Ateliers, and its historical archives.
Project Process
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The Muse & Analysis board
Dior Codes
Mood board
Capsule Collection
Inspired by Doria Shafik's gemstone rings worn on her right little finger, I related Monsieur Dior's passion for astrology and superstition to the symbolism of the gemstones she wore. I conceived my project from a fantasy play of astrology, gemology and palmistry where the idea of the ring, the orbits and the planets were at its center.
Look 1 Process
For the Silhouettes and the Swatches, the first look, I chose Jacquard fabric to execute it with and Embroidery with gemstone for the illustration I designed to be on the back. The Silhouettes in the first look were developed from Dior’s bar jacket and coats.
The following figures shows the process of creating the garment, where I started with flat drawings then with Toile Draping, experimenting & pattern making. This was the first time for me to create a garment and experiment with patrons. Me and my colleagues were exposed to Stefania Gulania, fashion design specialist at “Italian fashion academy” to support us learning pattern making and guide us through the process of creating the garment alongside with our supervisors from the GIU. It was challenging to create the first garment in my life with a high-quality production and understand the techniques and structures of couture. The 1st look was divided into 3 pieces, coat dress, pants and draping piece scarf added to the coat. The coat dress was challenging to understand every single detail, with the way of cutting to the stitching to the embroidery techniques as well as, understanding ways to create specific silhouette and volume.
After that, I developed further the look texture and digitized the patterns with 3D Digital Garment on CLO 3d, visualized the embroidery illustration on Zbrush and Autodesk Maya and rendered by Autodesk Arnold. Then, I developed further the look texture by scouting fabrics and searching for suitable precious gemstones with the choice of colours and beads to imagine how the look will be executed.
In this project, I developed a custom avatar with idea of having a digital virtual model inspired from the Egyptian features to have a unique image, as well as being inspired from the Chosen muse of the collection “Doria Shafiq.” The concept here is to test the notion of creating a 3D customized avatar to emphasize the image of the brand alongside with the collection. I used Zbrush for sculpting, Autodesk Maya for retopology and UV mapping, substance painter for texturing, importing to Clo3D for garment simulation and Arnold renderer for the final render.
For the Silhouettes and the swatches, the second look, I chose Glitter tulle with embroidered rings on the volumetric skirt and crop top blouse with embroidery illustration Embroidery with gemstone for the illustration I designed to be on the front top right. The Silhouettes in the second look was developed from Dior’s previous looks.
For the next look, I chose masculine fabric for volumetric A-line skirt, A bomber jacket with collar and Gemstones corset. The Silhouettes in the third look were developed from Dior’s previous outfits silhouette.
For the next look, I chose Velvet fabric for the dress, hard wear belt and Barouche with gemstone. The Silhouettes in the third look were developed from Dior’s J’adore perfume bottle silhouette.
For the next look, I chose to design a spacey print using the colour palette for the tight dress and draped half jacket on top. The Silhouettes in the fifth look were developed from Dior’s previous outfits silhouette.
Floral River look mood board
Capsule Collection
For this look, the photos show the Floral River look mood board and the designed Silhouette sketch. The gown overall silhouette and the distribution of the flowers were inspired from the very original Miss Dior dress done by Christian Dior himself. While the cape was also inspired from one of Dior's old gowns. It was chosen with this design to convey the idea of the waterfall or river falling from the shoulder.