Material Research, Updates to concept & Moodboard

I’ve read up on materials to wear on hot and dry weather, which is like the desert. Cotton, Linen and Rayon works well for my concept. Polyester is also a possible choice (conceptually) as it is breathable, although not recommended for “summer weather”.

Looking into nomad dressing, I was also curious why they wear layers and layers of fabric. Turns out, they do this to prevent water-loss. They use light fabric like cotton, that are lighter in colour so as to reflect the sun rays. The layers help them to keep moisture to their body, slowing down the rate of evaporation. Also, covering the body as much as they can helps a lot in keeping cool.


For concept…

I need to type to think, so let me just write freely about my ideas.

New narrative to justify my new style:

In the future, with desertification, cities and citizens adapt. Citizens now dress to protect themselves from the elements while in the city. This makes it necessary for them to have lighting on themselves to self-express and to also allow themselves to be seen. Reflective and holographic clothings makes people stand out more. The need for sensors to help them sense their environment is important as they have to take shelter if it gets too hot or too dusty. There is a need to collect water from the dry air, so some have adaptations that collects moisture from the air as they move. ( https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/could-desert-beetle-help-humans-harvest-water-thin-air )

I need to start sketching now cos I keep changing my idea. But at least I’m happy that I’m moving away from the clunky sci-fi ripoff I’ve been doing. I’m so glad that we did the biomimicry exercise!

So here’s my moodboard, again. Updated. Finalised. I’m not gonna update anymore or else I’ll be super stuck.

Jumpsuit — The idea is to have a full-body cover that can protect one from the elements. It has to be light and airy. I’ll wire it up with conductive thread to connect the different pieces together. I’m also making it greyscale so I can focus on the material rather than the colours.

The reason why I want to create different pieces is because I always thought about the feasibility with wearable electronics. If I can’t wash my clothes, then what’s the point of wearing them? Also, I want to keep this jumpsuit after the mod so I can use it hehehehehe so yep.

The respirator will be an organic armour-like piece made with plastic-like material (probably). The reason for plastic is for it to be clean as it’s attached to a mask.

The envirosensor wasn’t much looked into previously as I thought it was going to be just an armguard thing. But I’m very inspired by the Warframe character armour on the left and thought about beetles (and also Golden Experience from JoJo :P). I kept looking and though that it will go well with the airbag looking thing, which I plan on using for the interface.

The illuminator will now be more organic and flowy. Kinda origami-like also. I want to make it blend well with the garment, not stand out too much. It should look like it’s part of the garment.

The armour is a last-minute add-on, which I think I won’t have time to do, but Ill still put it here. It’s basically a geometric, plated outer covering for the jumpsuit. Was thinking the tech for this will be for temperature : if it’s too warm, it will open up. But it’s too much to handle for me so I’ll probably not touch it.

I was previously confused with this. I wanted my garment to have holographic-like properties, but I don’t know how to apply them. After looking at beetles, I realised their wings look like this material. So I think I will have this material as a cape. I will also try to apply this biomimicry x tech idea where you can add bumps to the surface of a hydrophobic material, and then coat the tip with a hydrophilic material to make it able to collect dew from fog. This works for my desert concept as people need water.

OKAY. So for now, enough with research. I have enough materials to justify my project, and I need to spend more time moving forward. Tomorrow and the next few days, I’ll go out to look at materials and prototype. I’ll also sketch more throughout the days.

AH UPDATE: ACTUALLY MAY NEED TO THINK ABOUT HAT AND EYEWEAR BUT SEE HOW……… :’)

Sources:

Beetles:

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/apr/10/environmental-engineering-biomimicry-tapping-into-nature-business-water-soil-drought

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/11/could-desert-beetle-help-humans-harvest-water-thin-air

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/02/160224150731.htm

https://www.desertmuseum.org/books/nhsd_beetles.php

https://permaculturenews.org/2017/02/28/harvesting-water-inspired-darkling-beetle/

Collecting fog:

https://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/18/africa/fog-catchers-morocco/index.html

https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/8/17441496/fog-harvesting-water-scarcity-environment-crisis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fog_collection

Desertwear:

Desert Travel and Survival

Clothings:

https://www.mariefranceasia.com/health/healthy-practices/wellbeing-tips/6-cooling-fabrics-hot-days-248941.html#item=1

Breathable Fabrics to Wear in Hot Weather