OLYMPIC TORCH LIGHTING CEREMONY COSTUMES | DRESS AS A SENSOR OF MOVEMENT AND FORM

Dress as a sensor of movement

The effect of the design can be read as dresses that are sensors of movement. Every dancer’s motion, no matter how subtle, whether the movement of a shoulder blade or knee immediately starts to reveal the inner, concealed colour creating an effect where movement is described and amplified by the dress. The most absolute motion of fully opened dress creates a climax of the fully revealed inner state, and the motionless appears to be monochrome and descriptive of a statuesque state. The fact that this is created through the use of pleats creates a ‘liquid’ effect as the dress moves between two chromatic states.

An op-art image juxtaposed with the effect of knee movement on the costumes.

An op-art image juxtaposed with dancers in motion.

Dress as a sensor of form

This exact concept can be seen in op-art. The effect of stripes in op-art is replicated in the costumes through the use of 3-dimensional pleats that respond to movement – warping the perfect geometry of the pleat as the ‘bulges’ in op-art morph the perfect stripes. In this way it can also be said that the costumes act as a sensor of form as well as movement as it is the projection of the body’s form (as a result of movement) that is distorting and transforming the dresses.

An op-art image juxtaposed with a dancer in motion.